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{UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.} 



"TELL JESUS." 



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Anna Shipto 



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AUTHOR OF 

"THE BROOK IN THE WAT," 

"PRECIOUS GEMS FOR THE SAVIOUR'S DIADEM," 

"WHISPERS IN THE PALMS," ETC. ETC. 



5 the living Father hath sent Me, and Hive by the Farther : so he that 
eateth Me. even he shall live by Me? — John 6: 57. 



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PHILADELPHIA : 
MRS. JANE HAMILTON, 

1344 Chestnut St. 

1868. 



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PHILADELPHIA: 
C A XT ON PRESS OF SHERMAN & CO. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I, 

CHAPTER II, 

CHAPTEPv III, 

CHAPTER IY, 

CHAPTER Y, 

CHAPTER YI, 

CHAPTER YII, 



PAGE 
13 

27 

51 

64 

79 

98 

134 



PEEFACE 



TO THE PRESENT EDITION. 



^^c<HE blessing of the Lord has fallen 
(\j^) on the words of her who "being 
dead yet speaketk," — a witness for Him 
among the followers of the Lamb, and a 
testimony before a world lying in wicked- 
ness. I pray Him, in whose favor is life, to 
give the latter rain, even as He has bestowed 
the former. 

Since the words which form the title of 
this book first chimed their heavenly music 
in my heart, I have prayed that they might 
become a song in the night to others. He 



VI PREFACE. 

whose breath gave them life has heard and 
answered me. 

In the chamber of sickness and the house 
of mourning, into the Bible-woman's home, 
the warehouse, and the vessel, has the hand 
of the Lord guided this testimony of my 
valued friend, and blessed it. 

If I add another line to its pages, it is to 
testify with heartfelt gladness to the ever- 
lasting faithfulness of my covenant-keeping 
God. 

It is in deep thankfulness that I tran- 
scribe an extract from one letter among 
many that have been received since these 
" Recollections " first went forth, proving 
that they have been owned of God. And 
this I do, not only to encourage others to 
sow beside all waters, but also on account of 
its interesting connection with n^ primary 
reason for publishing the book. 

It is as follows; 



PREFACE. VI', 

" I gave ' Tell Jesus ' to a young man, an 
artist in glass, to whom my daughter spoke 
in her last illness. He read the first few 
pages, and said, ' I have reason to bless the 
Lord for that message to my soul from the 
dying lips of dear L~ — — .' (The young 
milliner referred to in chap, i.) He then 
told me, that after her decease he had en- 
tered on a new engagement, without ob- 
serving that what was required of him was 
quite in a different style from that to which 
he had been accustomed. 'All at once,' he 
says, ' I remembered her words, and through 
that I overcame the difficulty — I asked the 
Lord to help me.' 

" His employer remarked to me after- 
wards, ' He is a very odd man ; I don't 
know what to make of him. When he 
does not know what to do, he seems to 
pray.'" 

May there be many such " strangers here." 



Vlll PREFACE. 

May this little seed become a thousand,— 
not by might, nor by power, but by the 
Spirit of the Lord of hosts. 

Lord ! Friend and Brother ! safe with thee be 

treasured 
Memories of countless mercies, past recall. 
Thy loving-kindness is not scant or measured. 
Thou art Thyself the first, best gift of all.. 
Christ ! thou art the fountain ever flowing, 
Love passing knowledge, knowing no decline : 
J Tis love — all love — in taking and bestowing : 
This little wayside rivulet — is Thine ! 



"TELL JESUS." 



CHAPTER I. 

"Gather tip the fragments that remain, that nothing 
be lost. TJierefore they gathered them together." — 
John 6: 12,13. 

Y recollections of one dear to us, 
and dearer still to God, have no 
pretension to be termed a memoir. 

Out of the many testimonies that Emily 
Gosse bore for her beloved Lord, my mem- 
ory most vividly retains those which affected 
my own spiritual life ; this has, therefore, 
obliged me to write more of myself than I 
desired. 

My acquaintance with her, which was ra- 
pidly to ripen into an everlasting friendship, 
2 




14 "TELL JESUS." 

began only in the last two years of her 
earthly pilgrimage, and I did but gather rip 
the crumbs from the table, at which she 
feasted with the King. These have been 
multiplied as the fragments of old, and have 
nourished others ; for the Lord commanded 
them to be gathered. 

Among many witnesses to the blessing 
which has followed the simple incidents of 
the following pages, and induced me to com- 
mit them to the press, was a dear Christian 
girl, to whom the recital bore a message as 
distinct as the angel's commission to the 
women at the tomb of the risen Jesus. 

A fortnight after I had told her of the 
value to my soul of the two words which 
form the title of my " Recollections/' she 
said : 

" Last Monday I was asked by Mrs. ," 

a West End milliner to w r hom she was appren- 
ticed, " to take a bonnet to a lady in Hyde 



"TELL JESUS. 5 ' 15 

Park. It was required by a certain hour. 
Quite unexpectedly to me, when I arrived at 
the house, the lady desired some alteration 
to be made, and I was requested to go into 
the drawing-room and make it there, as not 
sufficient time remained for me to return 
with it. 

" The work was beyond my experience ; I 
was so nervous, I could not thread my needle ; 
I was afraid to touch what our best hands 
had put together. I knew not what to do ! 
The servant placed the materials before me, 
and explained what was required, and I was 
left alone. 

"All at once, the words you said the last 
time I came to you flashed through my mind, 
' Do not fret ; tell Jesus — tell Jesus every- 
thing; He will guide and help you.' I thought, 
as I looked at the white tulle and flowers, 
' Can I ask Him to help me with this bonnet V 
You had told me that Mrs. Gosse had said 



16 "TELL JESUS." 

that she would ask Jesus to guide her to a 
pin, if she wanted one. 

"I did tell Jesus; I asked to be directed in 
ray difficult task, and also for the lady to be 
disposed to like the bonnet when it was finish- 
ed. Soon I lost all nervousness; the altera- 
tion was completed, and the lady returned for 
answer, that it was quite to her taste. Then, 
for the first time, I understood the meaning 
of a 'Living Jesus,' and from that hour I 
learnt the comfort of telling Him everything." 

And it was true. After that time there 
was a vitality in the spiritual life of this dear 
child, which is often sorely lacking in more 
advanced Christians. Without Jesus, we can 
do nothing; with Him, all things are possible. 
We may darken counsel by words without 
knowledge. Vainly of ourselves we set bread 
before the hungry. Unless he eat thereof, 
however much he admires the feast, it profit- 
ed! him nothing. 



17 

This early-gathered blossom was another 
seal to the faithfulness of Him who saith, 
" Them that honor Me, I will honor." The 
most striking feature of her new life, in the 
brief hour of testimony accorded to her below, 
was the simplicity of her faith, which enabled 
her to realize unceasing fellowship with Jesus, 
to the joy of her own soul, and the strengthen- 
ing and refreshing of others. 

To the faint-hearted, who see little or no 
result from their labors, I would say, "Be 
patient." It was only in the last days of her 
life that my helpful friend knew that in any 
way she had been blessed to me. I did not 
at once use the privilege which she had shown 
me was mine; but, blending with her uncon- 
scious influence, the seed was more efficiently 
taking root, and fulfilling that for which I had 
been sent to her. I "kept all these things, 
and pondered them" in my heart. 

I lacked the realization of that first truth, 



18 "TELL JESUS." 

that the Son of God, in the glory of the 
Father, which He had with Him before the 
foundation of the world, remained in his high- 
priestly office the Son of Man, touched with 
the feeling of our infirmities. And of the 
perfect humanity of Jesus, which made Him 
still the Brother born for adversity, I knew 
nothing. 

The daily life of one whose eye is single is 
full of light, and cannot fail to speak for God. 
" They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth 
for trouble; for they are the seed of the 
blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with 
them." But of the times and seasons when 
this shall be manifest knoweth no man. TVe 
w r alk by faith, not by sight. It is enough 
that He has said that our labor for Him shall 
not be in vain. Prayer is answered, we know ; 
but there is no promise as to manner or time ; 
God's way is the safest ; God's time is the 
best. 



"TELL JESUS.' 5 19 

The dews of many a night of weeping, and 
the scorching breath of many a furnace fire, 
passed over the Word of Life in my soul 
before I entered into its power; therefore, 
while we watch and pray, let us hope in God. 
"Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the 
precious fruit of the earth, and hath long 
patience for it, until He receive the early and 
latter rain !" 

Dear reader, if you know Jesus as your 
Saviour, beware lest Satan beguile you to 
believe that you have one want or care too 
minute for the consideration of the God of the 
whole earth. All things were made by Him 
and for Him. 

Soon after I began to observe this truth, I 
was sitting, in a time of weakness and loneli- 
ness, on the sea-shore— a stranger in a strange 
place. It soothed me to watch the tide, as it 
ebbed, sweep away or deposit some stray shell 
or weed upon the strand; and I mused on 



20 "TELL JESUS." 

the mission of some of the treasures that, in 
its mighty tidework, the sea brought or left 
behind. 

It was an evening in autumn, and not at 
loiterer was left on the shore, excepting a 
nurse and two young children — the elder a 
fine boy of about four years old. 

The child looked wistfully at me. I smiled 
at him, and he returned it. In a few minutes 
I felt a light touch upon my arm, and his 
blooming cheek was laid on my knee, as he 
earnestly gazed In my face with an expression 
of loving sympathy. Perhaps he had some 
sick one at home, and knew the power of his 
sweet smiles. No matter: God sent him. 

We talked together like old friends, and my 
heart lost its loneliness beneath the loving 
ministration. 

At length he started off beyond my reach. 
I watched him eagerly seeking among the 
weeds for shells. One after another he held 



"TELL JESUS." 21 

them to the light, casting aside each one that 
was broken, as unsuitable for his purpose. 

At last his busy fingers held up one which 
gave him satisfaction, and after examining it 
carefully, he polished it with his coat, and 
then, with a triumphant smile, advanced and 
laid it on my knee; then, stepping back a few 
paces, he evidently enjoyed my unfeigned 
delight. "For you," he lisped out — "only 
for you — all for you," as if I might doubt my 
right to his gift. 

Amid tender words and kisses we said fare- 
well, and my little God-sent messenger reluc- 
tantly obeyed the call of his nurse, and fol- 
lowed her. 

The shell lay in my hand ; my soul had 
risen like a lark above the clouds ; and, with 
a glad "Hallelujah," I praised the God of 
the whole earth. 

Again the little fellow was at my side, 
breathless. He gave an anxious glance at the 



22 "tell jesus." 

shell, and then looked coaxingly in my face, 
while he said, " You will not give it away, 
will you?" I assured him I would keep it 
and prize it for his sake. The child was 
gone, and I saw him no more. 

I do not own many treasures ; if I have 
any, I count that fragile shell among the 
choicest of them — a token from my heavenly 
Father's hand. His baby minstrel had tuned 
my heart to songs of gladness : his music, the 
lisping words of a child ; his instrument, a 
tiny transparent shell, that not a wave could 
break without His will. 

I went on my way rejoicing. 

Such an incident is puerile to those who 
have not cherished the remembrance of sad- 
ness and tears which manifested the soothing 
hand of the compassionate God-man while He 
whispered, "I will never leave thee, nor for- 
sake thee." 

Some few years ago, a remarkable trial for 



23 

murder took place in Paris. The facts were 
briefly as follows : A man who had lived un- 
happily with his wife determined to poison 
her. Long he waited his opportunity of ad- 
ministering the deadly powder. One day, 
during their dinner, while serving, the husband 
mixed the poison in his wife's food ; but when 
he had done so, he could not endure to see 
her eat it, and, making some excuse, he arose 
and left the table. During his absence from 
the room, and before the wife could partake 
of the food, her eye was attracted by a spider, 
which let itself down by its thread from the 
ceiling upon her plate, over which it crawled. 
Disgusted at the sight, she could not eat her 
portion, but thinking that, as her husband 
had not seen it, it would not affect him, she 
changed their plates before he re-entered the 
room. The man ate, and in a short time was 
seized with cramp, and every symptom of poi- 
son was evident. The woman was taken into 



24 "tell jesus.' 5 

custody on suspicion of having poisoned him. 
She declared her innocence, and, on being 
questioned, related the circumstance of the 
spider, which caused her to change the plates. 
The husband, struck by the wonderful work 
of a little spider in staying his hand from 
murder, confessed all, and died. 

The ant, the spider, the limpet on the rock, 
the mote that dances in the sunbeam, have 
each their assigned place ; and He who created 
them can use them for his own will and pleas- 
ure. He formed the mysterious chords within 
us, that thrill or sadden beneath a touch, dis- 
cerned by none but Himself. Nor is He w T ho 
rules the worlds unmindful of the least want 
or sigh of the soul that He has died to 
save. 

" Casting all your care upon Him,'' does 
not imply such concerns as the natural intel- 
lect may decide on as fit occasions for faith 
and prayer. It necessarily includes whatso- 



"tell jesus." 25 

ever can burden, or tempt, or grieve a child 
of that Father, who declares that the very 
hairs of our head are numbered. 

Prove the blessed truth of faith in Jesus. 
Give Him the first place in your heart and 
counsels ; soon you will feel that you cannot 
do without Him in the least matter, and 
every occasion of going to Him will result in 
new manifestations of his love and faithful- 
ness. Only try it ! 

"Whate'er thy sin, whatever thy sorrow be, 
Tell all to Jesus; He who, looking where 
The weary-hearted weep, still draweth near 
To listen fondly to the half-formed prayer, 
And read the silent pleading of a tear. 
Lose not thy privilege, O silent soul ! 
Pour out thy sorrow at thy Saviour's feet. 
What outcast spurns the hand that gives the dole? 
Oh let Him hear thy voice ! To Him thy voice is sweet. 

I am greatly indebted to Mr. Gosse for 
permission to extract from his narrative, 



26 "tell jesus." 

"the last days on earth" of his beloved 
wife.* 

I also acknowledge the affectionate testi- 
mony of one who knew her worth, and walked 
with her in an unbroken friendship for nearly 
twenty years. Among the cups of cold water, 
given because we belong to Jesus, may He 
remember her heart-cheering sympathy in 
this feeble effort to bear witness to the ex- 
perimental blessedness of fellowship with God 
in Christ Jesus ; not only for ourselves and 
for the Church, but before the world. It is 
committed to Him whose blessing can alone 
cause it to speak for Him, and to Him be all 
the glory. 

I have but gathered one ear of the precious 
grain of Emily Gosse's harvest: sowing and 
reaping, we shall rejoice together. 

* " A Memorial of the Last Days on Earth of Em- 
ily Grosse. By her Husband, Philip Henry Gosse, 
F.R.S." Nisbet. 



: TELL JESUS." 27 




CHAPTER II. 

u The memory of the just is blessed."— Trov. 10 : 7. 

XD who are the just ? Even those 
who, " being justified by faith, have 
peace with God, through our Lord Jesus 
Christ." Of such a one are my recollections. 

I was still groping in the twilight of spirit- 
ual dawn when I first met Emily Gosse. She 
appeared to me then, as she lives in my mem- 
ory to this hour, as one of God's epistles, 
known and read of all men, whose influence, 
through the love therein written, leaves the 
reader nearer heaven than it found him. 

I had passed from death unto life, though 
I was not peacefully resting on the infallible 
testimony of the Word of God that it was so. 
I was seeking for assurance from the ever- 



28 "TELL JESUS." 

varying testimony of feeling, encumbered by 
errors and superstitions, and only a little 
while before had I even known the way of 
salvation. I acknowledged that Jesus, the 
only-begotten Son of God, was the Saviour 
of sinners, and that therefore, knowing my- 
self a sinner, I might lay claim to redemp- 
tion from eternal death through Him. But 
I was seldom able to say, u My Saviour." 
That He had saved me from the doom of the 
scorner, I could understand; but as my Sav- 
iour from sin — as the Good Physician — as 
the Counsellor of my daily difficulties — as 
the risen, living Jesus — the Companion and 
Friend of my life, I had not then beheld Him. 
Until I met Emily Gosse, I had never seen 
a child of God following the Lord fully, in 
happy, cheerful confidence ; nor witnessed 
Christ and His glory in the life of man or 
woman, as the one sole object of their exist- 
ence. The sight of it in her won my heart 



"TELL JESUS. 5 ' 29 

to desire the same happy path of single-eyed 
service. I remember with what silent de- 
light I watched her unconscious testimony 
for fljfm, who was ere long to be realized in 
my soul as my own living, loving Lord ! 

I had arranged to pass the last summer 
months of that to me eventful year in the 
near neighborhood of old friends, pleasant to 
me after the flesh, but in no wise adapted to 
lead me on the heavenly road, on which, 
though blindfolded and lame, I had set forth. 

Business required my presence in London, 
previously to taking possession of my apart- 
ments. While there, a lady, almost a stranger, 
called, and requested, as a personal favor, that 
I would accompany a young relative to the 
coast, partly with a view to change of air, but 
more particularly to give her and a friend the 
opportunity of meeting with Mr. Gosse, for 
the purpose of studying the world of wonders 
beneath the waters, for which his interesting 
3 



30 "TELL JESUS.' 7 

works had prepared them. To this day, when 
my eyes rest upon an aquarium (for never 
since that year have I seen those mysterious 
sea-flowers in the crystal pools of their own 
rocky homes), I retrace th/e links which drew 
me nearer to the great Creator of their 
beauty, and read therein, not only tokens of 
his infinite wisdom, but a message of love 
known only to Him and me. 

My plans were made, and very pleasant 
plans they seemed. They had been formed 
without any reference to the will of the Lord 
in the matter. I knew, by the hearing of 
the ear, that He taketh heed of the fall of 
the sparrow, yet I honored Him not by be- 
lieving that He setteth the bounds of the 
habitation of the feeblest child of his family. 
I had not disregarded my proximity to the 
means of grace, in my settlement in my new 
abode ; but I had equally sought to be near 
my friends. 



"TELL JESUS." 31 

I at once declined the invitation to the 
coast, and that so decidedly, that the lady 
could no longer press it, and we parted. The 
Lord was guiding, though blind eyes saw it 
not. On the eve of my quitting London the 
lady returned, more urgent in her request 
than even before. Perhaps she had prayed 
that it might be granted : certain it is, that 
the Lord's purpose of infinite love was in it; 
for suddenly, without being able to assign 
any cause for the change in my feelings, all 
my former disinclination to her proposal van- 
ished. Without any further objection, I con- 
sented to accompany her young friends to 
Ilfracombe, whither they were going for the 
purpose of studying the zoophytes, in which 
pursuit they were deeply interested. 

In place, therefore, of returning to my 
self-chosen nest, I went forth, and continue 
up to this day a pilgrim, whose only home is 
in heaven. 



32 "tell jesus." 

It was a dreary and fatiguing journey, and 
its termination offered nothing to compensate 
for much that I had given up to undertake it. 
I felt weary and lonely, as every living soul 
must be, apart from the changeless peace 
which is found in Jesus only. 

The second week of our stay had closed, 
and I was ardently longing for the time of 
our departure; but my Heavenly Father had 
ordained it all, and had guided me, though I 
knew it not. It was at this juncture that He 
sent to my side the wise and tender minister 
of good tidings, in the wife of the Christian 
naturalist of whom I was hearing so much. 

Directly I saw the face of Mrs. Gosse, I 
longed to know her better; she was fair, and 
appeared more youthful than her years, from 
her small delicate features, and the artless 
childlike smile which lighted her countenance 
when animated. I have seen it literally spark- 
ling with joy, when unexpectedly brought into 



U TELL JESUS.' 5 83 

contact with those who loved her Lord, or 
■when recognizing some expression of his ever- 
watchful care. 

"Whether the Lord veiled the state of my 
spiritual life from her, I know not. I listened 
to her with unmixed pleasure, though I hardly 
dare aver that I was fed. But I marked her 
steps, and they chimed sweet music ; the bells 
proclaimed " holiness unto the Lord." There 
was much new and strange to me; some inter- 
mediate tones seemed lacking in my soul for 
perfect harmony between what I had received 
and that which I beheld in her. 

Anticipations of a home undisturbed by 
sin or sorrow, where I could forever behold 
Jesus, had often filled my heart with glad- 
ness. I read that He was gone to prepare a 
place for His people, and had promised to 
come again and receive them to Himself. 
These thoughts brooding in my soul became 
more tangible, as I saw her daily rejoicing 



84 "tell jesus." 

in the expectation of the return of the Lord 
Jesus, with the assurance of faith born only 
of the Spirit. 

But how could I rejoice in the coming of 
the Lord, when I was not at all sure that He 
was coming for me ? I felt, for the first 
time, the power of the life of a child of God, 
walking with Him in cheerful childlike con- 
fidence in His love. I yearned for that good 
land which she possessed, though I was not 
at all convinced that Tier blessed inheritance 
was — could be — -for one so unworthy — for me, 
such a sinner ! 

I had never seen the simplicity of faith 
which ever walks in heavenly humility. Not 
the humility of servile fear, which the world 
recognizes in sighs and groans over the old 
Adam's utter corruption ; but the trustful 
gaze fixed on Jesus, that says, "Christ Jesus 
came into the world to save sinners, of whom 
I am chief; therefore my hope is in Him. 



"TELL JESUS." 35 

He is my strength, and the lifter up of my 
head." Such a posture of soul better glo- 
rifies the Lord of life than when our eyes rise 
no higher than self, forgetting; that we were 
created for His praise. 

I so feebly apprehended the high-priestly 
office of Him who was exalted for the remis- 
sion of sins, that I thought I had still some- 
thing to do ; and that perhaps for years, to 
test my sincerity, before I could live with 
Jesus in the same sweet familiar intimacy as 
my new friend. 

She was a wise mother in Israel ; she did 
not cavil at my crude opinions, nor combat 
my errors. She did not argue points of dif- 
ference, which would have arrayed my dom- 
inant pride and obstinacy against her ; nei- 
ther did she appear amazed at my ignorance. 
Her aim was to show Jesus in his love and 
loveliness. 

The love of God in Christ beamed through 



36 U TELL JESUS." 

her words and life ; like sunshine melting 
away the clouds of prejudice, and dispelling 
gradually my fleshly dread of irreverence in 
taking advantage with the freedom of access 
that she enjoyed, of that door into heaven, 
which the precious blood-shedding had open- 
ed. (John 10 : 7, 9 ; Heb. 10 : 19-22,) 

It was pre-eminently Jesus that she preach- 
ed, his beauty, his loving kindness, his tender 
mercv ! and though that happy, happy day 
had not then arrived when I could exclaim, 
" This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend ! ?r 
vet. by the blessing of God. I count her in- 
sensible influence among the many cords of 
love that won my weary, roving heart to find 
its rest in Him alone. 

While Mr. Gosse and my young friends 
were exploring, with the ardor of naturalists, 
the treasures of the deep with the drag-net, 
or rambling over the rocks of the picturesque 
beach, I was, from inability to join them, 



"TELL JESUS." 37 

generally within doors, or sitting on the shore 
not far from our lodgings. 

There I occasionally met Emily, who, like 
a good householder, brought out of her treas- 
ure things new and old from the store of 
Christ's fulness. 

Yet all this time she had a mother's eye 
upon her young son, whom she carefully 
watched in his amusements and companions. 
Many a lesson might nurses and governesses 
have learned from her. In clear characters 
might be read on all she did and said, "As 
for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." 

Our interviews were always brief, gener- 
ally interrupted, and not unfrequently pre- 
vented altogether. I remember that this 
caused me to feel irritated and disappointed, 
as the natural wilfulness of my character 
desired more of her society than the Lord 
saw fit to accord me. 

Besides this, I was selfish, and she was 



38 

unselfish ; I longed to keep her all to myself, 

while she sought only to be about her Father's 
business. She loved to wander among the 
groups assembled under the rocks or among 
the bathers, distributing her tracts, and drop- 
ping a word elsewhere for her dear Master 
when opportunity offered; while I would 
have chosen her to sit by my side. 

All this was not without its lesson. After 
those days were gone, I murmured against 
myself that I had profited so little from them. 
Doubtless, the Lord's set time was not fully 
come. He who had found me in a desert 
land, and in a waste, howling wilderness, 
was leading me about, and instructing me, 
and (blessed be His name !) keeping me as 
the apple of His eye. 

So, day by day, Emily Gosse went on her 
way, sowing beside all waters. The joy of 
harvest-home is reserved for the great in- 
gathering. For myself, it was only in more 



39 

entire seclusion from the outer world, and in 
deeper affliction, that I learned the mystery 
of the new birth in the promise, " Because I 
live, ye shall live also;" the Lord Himself, 
without human instrumentality, leading me 
into the truths which delivered me out of 
bondage into His glorious liberty. Certain 
it is, that when the King had brought me 

f © © 

into the full secret of His presence, and had 
taught me the endearing relationship of U F?- 
ther," my happy friend was resting from her 
labors. 

I saw Emily working for Jesus; I did noth- 
ing : how could I, when I only believed at 
distant intervals that my sins were forgiven ? 
How could I tell of the faithfulness of a 
covenant God, when I was so often doubting 
his word, and dishonoring Him by unbelief 
of his truth ? 

And yet, when I rejoiced in the assurance 
that the Good Shepherd had indeed snatched 



40 

me from the pit, I wept to think I had never 
"won a soul for Him who had done so much 
for me. My thought was, If I knew Hiin. 
and really loved Him, I could work for Him ; 
not until then. 

In one of those seasons of depression when 
too ill to quit the house, these temptations 
especially assailed me. That day I listened 
to a lesson from the lips of my new-found 
friend, which I have ever since been learn- 
ing; that the subjection which leads us to 
accept the position the wisdom of the Lord 
assigns us, is our reasonable service. Long- 
suffering, and meekness, and patience, are 
fruit, though often unacknowledged by any 
but Him ; fruit accepted for Christ's sake, for 
it is the growth of his Spirit. 

Emily had a peculiar faculty of illustrating 
her subject in conversation, which was very 
attractive, and this was a point of sympathy 
between myself and her; in all else, it was 



"TELL JESUS." 41 

hardly possible to find a greater contrast, or 
two individuals more dissimilar. 

Our conversation this day called forth the 
following illustration : 

" The master of the house has a servant 
whom he has appointed to sit in the hall 
(perhaps alone), and only attend to his bell 
when it rings. This man may not often be 
required for the particular service to which 
this bell will summon him, nevertheless he is 
not to be doing his own pleasure in the in- 
tervals. 

" Would he be fulfilling the duty for which 
he was specially placed there, if, when he saw 
his fellow-servants engaged in their respec- 
tive callings, running hither and thither, he 
joined them, and so, when the bell rung, he 
was not in the only chair where he could dis- 
tinctly hear it ; and had, moreover, placed 
himself in a position which rendered him 
unfit for the peculiar service required of 



42 

him? Neither,'' she added, "with an arch 
smile, " should we expect the servant who 
knew his lord's will, to be unhappy, and con- 
tinually running up stairs and knocking im- 
patiently at his master's door, to know what 
he was to do next. The master had already 
shown him what he was to do, — to wait in 
the hall. 

" So now, your service is plain enough ; 
you must remember ' Old Betty.' Once the 
Lord seemed to say to her, ' Go here, go 
there ; do this, do that.' ' And now,' the old 
woman said, ' He seems to say to me, Betty, 
lie still and cough.' " 

There was nothing of the teacher in Emily, 
though she was deeply taught of God. Bless- 
ing seemed to flow out from her life, accord- 
ing to the promise, in rivers of living water. 
(John 7 : 38.) Who shall follow the track of 
the little seed that is carried on the wings of 



43 

the wind? God caretli for it; it shall be 
found after many days. 

Whether her attention was directed to a 
child, or to a babe in Christ, or to a Bible 
student in the examination of a Greek word, 
there was no assumption of pedantry or 
superior knowledge, which is so often the 
loop-hole for Satan to shoot at the proud in 
heart, even in holy teaching ; and I feel as- 
sured that this must have arisen from her 
knowledge of her own heart, and her trust 
in the strength of Him to whom all power in 
heaven and earth is given. 

All God's family bear some resemblance to 
their Father, however faint, which proclaims 
their heavenly origin to those that know Him. 
The germ of all the fruit of the Holy Spirit 
is contained in the new man in Christ Jesus. 
Perhaps some feature is more developed ex- 
ternally, by reason of special culture of the 
heavenly Husbandman, through special trials ; 



44 "tell jesus." 

but other buds of promise are there, opening 
to His eye alone, unrecognized by others. 
Many a night and morning, many a winter 
and summer, may go by before they put forth 
their fragrance, but they are there. 

Dormant they lie, they are not dead ; 

Sown for Emmanuel's land, 
They'll bloom where heavenly fountains flow, 

Beneath his fostering hand. 

A little while we suffer here, 

A little while we weep ; 
A little while we dare the fight, 

And holy watch we keep. 

And then — no more a little while 

To sigh and struggle thus ; 
But live forever, conquerors, 

With Him who loveth us. 

* * * * * * 

Love sheds its light over all, and seems to 
energize the branch which draws from the 
root, and gives forth to others. For love 
shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost 



"tell jesus." 45 

is a fountain of blessing wherever it flows. 
It shone in Emily Gosse's daily life. 

I have seen her cheek flush, and her ready 
sympathy fill her eyes with tears at wrong 
committed against another ; I never saw her 
ruffled with any one. if the wrong were 
directed against herself personally. 

It was long before I recognized the hand 
of man as the sword of the Lord (Isa. 54 : 
16), but when I had done so, it was a well 
of peace to my heart. Before this, I re- 
member that in bitterness of spirit I one 
day recounted some mortifying provocation 
that I had received from a nominal Chris- 
tian ; it touched her heart far otherwise 
than it had done mine. I seem to feel the 
loving pressure of her hand upon my shoulder 
now, as she looked tenderly in my face 
through the tears that glistened for what I 
had suffered, as she said, " Oh, how much 
pride there must be to subdue in your heart, 
4 



46 "tell jesus.'" 

for the dear Lord to let you be treated 
thus !" 

Now I have learned to recognize the hand 
of the Potter ; and on looking back on those 
sorrowful days, I have traced the moulding 
skill, breaking away the clay that encumbers 
the vessel of mercy; and, though now He 
has other instruments for fashioning it, I 
love to trace it still ; and soon, in the light 
of his unclouded presence, what we know not 
now, we shall know hereafter. I was more 
reserved with her than with any one before 
or since ; and yet the ministry I received 
was exactly suited for what I should after- 
wards need in more severe trial. 

On one occasion I refused to tell her what 
had saddened me, only because I thought the 
cause w r ould appear trifling to her. Like her 
blessed Master, she found nothing beneath 
her sympathy that could cause one throb of 



"tell jesus." 47 

She would not quit me until she had 
soothed me, and this ended, of course, in 
my telling her all. She listened with as 
much interest as if she had to unravel some 
deep mystery. She sat for a few minutes in 
silence, and then asked, with the simplicity 
that characterized her, "Did you tell Jesus?" 
Perhaps I looked surprised ; I am sure I felt 
so ; yet to her the only surprise would be, 
that anything could call forth our complaints 
to another which had not first been told to 
Jesus. 

She continued, " If I want a pin, and do 
not know where to find one, I do not lose any 
time in seeking for it. I ask him to guide me 
to one, and He does so. Tell me what did 
John's disciples do in their grief at the loss 
of their master ?" 

I thought only of his burial, and she went 
on, " They took up the body and buried it, 
and went and told Jesus" 



48 "tell jesus." 

That word was a shaft followed by God's 
faithful promise: "For as the rain cometh 
down, and the snow from heaven, and return- 
eth not thither, but watereth the earth, and 
maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may 
give seed to the sower and bread to the eater ; 
so shall my word be that goeth forth out of 
my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, 
but it shall accomplish that which I please, 
and, it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent 
itr (Isa. 55: 10, 11.) 

The rod laid up within the ark for me that 
day will be seen through eternal ages; it 
budded, and in time blossomed. Many a hope 
have I buried, over many a blighted one have** 
I wept ; but the budding rod bore fruit at last. 
Blessed be the covenant-keeping God ! The 
message of my Father's love that Emily 
brought me has never since that hour been 
silent. Dead lips speak no more ; their echo 
dies not, but rolls through eternity — " Tell 
Jesus/' 



"tell jesus. 5 * 49 

In the cloud I have been called to enter, I 
have heard no man, but Jesus only. This is 
more than enough for the loneliest and drear- 
iest path ! 

I ^vas by this time a little prepared, when 
I paid her a visit, and admired the pleasant 
apartments which they occupied overlooking 
the sea, to hear her reply: 

" Yes ! it was very kind of the Lord ; we 
had asked Him to guide us to suitable rooms, 
both for airy lodgings, for health's sake, and 
also for other advantages," which she pro- 
ceeded to show me. 

Her cheerful acquiescence, at the same 
time, in what was denied her, was as striking 
as her happy acknowledgment of what ap- 
peared to be the most trifling thing to others' 
eyes. 

This was the first intimation I received of 
the Good Shepherd going before his sheep, 
in the minute care for their change of habita- 



50 

tion, and of the sheep knowing his voice, and 
following Him in peaceful security. (John 
10 : 4.) 

He has not called us to go forth in our own 
strength, but in our weakness, that his strength 
may be perfected in it. 

In committing ourselves to Him for a "pros- 
perous journey," we may at first feel amazed 
at the result ; but if taken in simple reliance 
on Him, who can best choose our inheritance 
for us, we shall in the end see his wisdom and 
love. If we are seeking only to follow Him, 
He will not let us wander out of the way ; if 
we are seeking something not really needful, 
and the indulgence of our own will and pleas- 
ure (James 4 : 3), He may indeed give us the 
desire of our heart, and send leanness into 
our soul. If the Good Shepherd grants us his 
reviving presence, Ave may well leave all the 
rest to Him, assured that if He has withheld 
anything that appeared to us " good," it has 
only been to give us something better. 



"TELL JESUS." 51 




CHAPTER III. 

"All things are yours."— 1 Cor. 3 : 21. 

"For God spealzeth once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth 
it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when 
deep sleep falleth tipon men> in slumberings upon 
the bed; then He openeth the ears of men, and sealeth 
their instruction."— Job 33 : ld-16. 



jR. and Mrs. Gosse left for London, 
and I heard no more of her until the 
following spring, when I received a note re- 
minding me of my promise to visit her ; and 
as I was then at a convenient distance from 
London, she invited me to spend two days 
with her in the following week. I did so. 

I had scarcely arrived, when, as was often 
the case, she was sent for on some errand of 
mercy, and, as she said, ( ' to keep me company 
until her return," she placed in my hands "A 
Narrative of the Lord's Dealings with Greorge 



52 

Muller," a work of which I had never before 
heard. 

If Emily Gosse's faith in the daily watch- 
ful care of her Almighty Friend had startled 
me, she had now left me food for meditation, 
wonder, admiration, and love. 

God is good ! I never for a moment doubted 
this reality ; and I read on, and on, until I 
came to a passage in which Mr. M tiller narrates 
how he once had need of an arm-chair in his 
bedroom, when an invalid on a visit to a 
friend, and how the Lord tenderly took heed 
of the want, so that when he next entered his 
bed-chamber he found it there. 

Of the sums this man of God has won from 
heaven's treasury, for the support of thousands 
of orphans, for the extension of the building, 
for the circulation of the Scriptures, and the 
help of missionary laborers, I have read and 
marvelled. But when this simple fact of the 
care of his heavenly Father was recorded, it 



"tell jesus." 53 

had another mission. It was just fitted for 
my grasp — the tiny thread of faith which just 
such a babe could hold. It drew me on until 
I realized, "This God is my God forever and 
ever; He shall be my guide even unto death!'' 
I longed for the book. I did not ask for 
the loan of it ; I was too poor to purchase it. 
The Lord's way was the best ; I had learned 
experimentally something of the faith that 
worketh by love, before I again turned the 
pages over which I hung that afternoon in 
delight. I felt more and more the contrast 
of this faith, that was constantly honoring 
the Lord by believing his word, and confiding 
in his love, to that of a doubting spirit born 
of an evil heart of unbelief; and I thirsted 
for the good land beyond Jordan. It also led 
me to remark how God blesses the household 
where his ark rests, and that it is impossible 
to dwell with those who walk with a living 
God, and not partake of their blessings. 



51 

That night for me was sleepless. It was 
the Lord's clear hand in all. and but for it I 
should have failed to read another trait of 
Himself in my gentle hostess. 

The morning had hardly broken, when she 
quietly opened my door, and brought to my 
side the breakfast which her thoughtful care 
had provided. She had lighted the fire in her 
husband's study, to avoid disturbing the ser- 
vants ; she had heard my restlessness, and 
was ever on the watch to serve. 

When I told her how grieved I was for her 
to rise to do this, her reply was like herself: 

" Supposing yesterday Jesus had rested in 
your lodgings on his way to Jerusalem, weary 
with his journey, and you knew He had been 
watching all night, should you have thought 
it any hardship to rise an hour or two ear- 
lier than usual to give Him refreshment ? 
Jesus could not come Himself, He sent you, 
and He says to me, 'Inasmuch as }~ou have 



"tell jesus. ' ? 55 

clone it unto he?*, you have done it unto 
Me.'" 

Thus we feel the need of having a poor and 
afflicted people among us, that there may be 
a field for the ministration of the disciples of 
Jesus to the Man of Sorrows in the person 
of His suffering members. Numberless are 
the occasions it affords of exhibiting His 
tender love towards those that serve, as well 
as to them that are served. Sitting often 
at His feet, we shall learn the secret of His 
will, and hearing His voice, we shall learn 
the way to do it, by which we shall most re- 
semble Him in the doing. 

The little loving charities of daily life 
preach loudly for Him who went about doing 
good. The testimony that it is for Jesus will 
make the even tenor of the walk glorify Him ; 
whereas, if kindness and forbearance be shown 
only to please ourselves, or for the gratifica- 
tion of another, they will be fitful, and wit- 



56 "TELL JESUS." 

ness nothing of the living faith to proclaim 
Him whose we are and whom we serve. 

Of all the blessings that gladden our earth- 
ly pilgrimage, sympathy is the sweetest ; of 
all the gifts of God, a friend is the chief. The 
man of science has his associate ; the man of 
crime his accomplice; the man of pleasure 
his companion ; and in all these there is sym- 
pathy, but not friendship : that comprehends 
an enduring affection resting on sympathy ; 
it cannot endure, if built on the things that 
are passing away, or that shall be burned up. 

A friend in Jesus is a gift, but Jesus, the 
Friend, is the priceless Friend. 

And can such things be ? Yes. The Man 
of Sorrows is the Brother born for adversity, 
as every day's need requires. Fellowship 
with Him can cast a light and glory over 
life's common things. If we think that 
brotherhood with Jesus comprehends only a 
fellowship in sorrow and difficulty, the privi- 



57 

lege is immeasurably great ; but this is limit- 
ing his friendship, or placing Him in the posi- 
tion of Patron and Benefactor, rather than 
of Brother and Friend. 

When we live in close sympathy with an- 
other, we receive and impart every moment. 
Take a day passed with a friend, unrecorded 
by any remarkable event ; such a day as an 
uninterested observer might pronounce a very 
commonplace one. It has not been com- 
monplace to you. The glance comprehended 
without a word spoken ; the smile that has 
recognized your thought ; the trifling need 
that has made a way for a gift valueless to 
any one but you, and precious to you as a 
memento of the hand that gave, and the cir- 
cumstance that drew it forth ; — all these foot- 
prints of time leave the day so uneventful 
to others, full of sweet memories to loving 
hearts. 

Why deal with vour heavenly Friend with 



58 

more strangeness and less confidence than 
with an earthly friend, and desire his help 
and sympathy only in seasons of extremity ? 
Yet is He found of them that call upon Him 
only in the hour of need ; He cannot deny 
Himself. 4i In their affliction they will seek 
Me early." But why not accept that com- 
panionship which throws a light over the 
minute working of his providence, and gives 
a voice to the interpreters of his love, hour 
by hour, moment by moment. 

Is it the carnal or the spiritual man which 
objects, that there are numberless things and 
circumstances too insignificant to brino; be- 
fore the God of the whole earth? Does the 
word of God state them ? or, zvJio is so wise 
as to declare what is really great or small 
in the sight of Omnipotence ? Shall we then 
say, " I will trust my soul to the God of my 
mercies, but not my mercies themselves ;" 
and in some extremity call on Him for deliv- 



"TELL JESUS." 59 

erance, but in the burden of daily trials dis- 
honor Him by distrusting his care, and doubt- 
ing his love ? 

Who shall pronounce what has an influence 
on the spiritual life, and what has not ? The 
minute grain of sand that obscures the sight 
may ultimately destroy it. The thorn in the 
traveller's foot, a key lost or mislaid, and 
meaner things than any I have enumerated, 
may cast shadows on the strongest mind, and 
change the current of a life ; while such de- 
spised things have been among the golden 
links that draw the soul nearer, to realize a 
living God. 

Will you call it " bondage" to cast all 
upon the sympathizing heart of the Man 
Christ Jesus? Oh! trembling hearts, per- 
plexed and weary, it is no fable — it is the 
glorious liberty of the children of God, to 
M trust in Him at all times." 

He does not bid you seek Him in unap- 



60 "TELL JESUS." 

proachable glory ; He comes to you as one 
of your brethren. In all things He was 
tempted even as you are, yet without sin ; 
He once hungered and thirsted, He was 
weary, lonely, misunderstood. You have no 
want or woe that He has not tasted ; you 
have no joy which you could pour into that 
heart of love to which it would not respond. 

I write to you who know Him and love 
Him, and yet live at such an immeasurable 
distance from Him, that you are uttering 
your complaints of your coldness and unhap- 
piness in the ears of others, " physicians of 
no value," who cannot fathom your w T ound, 
or heal your disease. Why wait till the 
waters are troubled? Tell Jesus. 

An early diary of Emily's, lent me by her 
husband on this occasion, consists principally 
of notes to assist her memory, but otherwise 
it is too obscure to enable me to trace much 
that would be interesting in the growth and 



"TELL JESUS." 61 

development of the divine life in her soul. 
Brief as is the entry, which bears the date 
1835, it is strongly marked by the single- 
mindedness of one who even then walked, as 
she ever afterwards did, with an exercised 
conscience, though ever fully realizing the 
finished work of Jesus, and her acceptance 
in Him ; from which we glean the desires of 
her heart towards a clearer light and more 
devoted walk. To those who had the priv- 
ilege of knowing her, it very imperfectly 
shadows the work of grace that was devel- 
oped in the noon of her life. 

She complains of the plague of her own 
heart, like those who know " their own sore 
and their own grief;" of her unbelief, selfish- 
ness, and wandering in prayer ; her bitterness 
of speaking of the faults of others. 

The Hearer and Answerer of prayer — 
more willing to glorify Himself in his ser- 
vant than any can be to glorify Him — indeed 



62 "tell jesus." 

granted her abundantly that which she had 
requested. Great is the encouragement to 
the children of light to walk in the light 
which reveals their needs, when we see how 
graciously hers were met, and how brightly 
shone those graces in her after-experience, 
the lack of which she here laments. 

If our desires after spiritual blessings seem 
tardy in their fulfilment, we are not there- 
fore to suppose that they are disregarded. 
Invisible is the process by which we receive 
them. They are not to be acquired and 
handled as are temporal gifts ; these we may 
obtain immediately, and rejoicingly show to 
our neighbor, that he may rejoice w r ith us. 
Neither do they resemble the sudden life in 
a soul given to our prayers. They are deeper 
and more hidden, as the life hid with Christ 
in God, and only when the tempest has swept 
over us, or the daily furnace has been en- 
tered, where none walked with us but the Son 



"tell jesus." 63 

of Grod, have we realized that grace had 
really been granted us according to our 
prayers. Its reception must he the work of 
faith, — that of other gifts more or less of 
sense. 

Nothing is so dishonoring to God as un- 
belief. Even supposing that our prayer is 
not answered so that we can recognize it 
here, yet we have honored Him by asking for 
that which He alone can bestow ; and them 
that honor Him, He will honor. 

Hinder not the holy life-giving Spirit. It 
is written, " If ye abide in Me, and my words 
abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and 
it shall be done unto you." And what does 
the longing soul desire, but conformity to 
Sim without whom it can do nothing ? We 
shall be satisfied when we awake in his like- 
ness. 



(34 "tell jesus.' 



CHAPTER IV. 

u And Jribez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that 
thou tcouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my 
coast, and tJiat thine hand might be with me, and 
that tliou tcouldest ~keep me from evil, that it may 
not grieve me I And God granted 7iim that which 
he requested."— 1 CJiron. 4 : 10. 

)N January, 1856, Emily wrote to tell 
me that she had asked the Lord for a 
" Jubilee Year," and that already the an- 
swers were returning in blessings, through 
her tracts, and the conversion of two young 
women, in one of whom I was much inter- 
ested. Also some evidence in the soul of 
her little son, giving her reason to believe 
that he was indeed a child of God. 

Her own health was good, her husband's 
better, and many mercies were numbered up. 

In her private diary was found, after her 



65 



decease, the following entry, made on her 
birthday preceding : 

"Lord, forgive the sins of the past, and 
help me to be faithful in future. May this 
be a year of much blessing, a year of Jubilee ! 
May I be kept lowly, trusting, loving ! May 
I have more blessing than in all former years 
combined ! May I be happier as a wife, 
mother, sister, writer, mistress, friend!"* 

And the Lord heard, and granted her that 
which she requested. 

Merciful is the veil which conceals in what 
form our petition shall be granted ; but we 
know the hand of love, once pierced for us, 
holdeth our souls in life, and suffereth not 
our feet to be moved ; although we find our 
prayers return to us in far other forms than 
we should have had courage to desire. 

* This, and most of the following particulars, are 
extracted from "A Memorial of the Last Days of 
Emily G-osse," bv her Husband. 



66 "tell jesus." 

" Almost immediately," says her husband, 
" after the supplications above mentioned 
were recorded on high, the gracious answer 
began to be given. At first it came only in 
joy. The first-fruit was a very blessed revival 
of my own soul through some words which 
she spoke to me. And then there followed 
what she had reason to judge the sound con- 
version to Grod of three young persons within 
a few weeks, by the instrumentality of her 
conversations with them. Others were im- 
pressed, and appeared convinced of their sin- 
ful state. Moreover, before the year was com- 
pleted, at least two instances were brought 
to her knowledge of gospel tracts having 
been blessed to the decided conversion of 
souls. And the grace of the Lord, was dis- 
played to her also, in causing these testi- 
monies to the blood of Christ, the fruits of 
her pen, to be spread very widely, even to the 
most distant parts of the globe, the result 



•'tell jesus. ?> 67 

of which will be fully known when the har- 
vest of this sowing-time shall be gathered in e 

" During the twelvemonth between Novem- 
ber, 1855, and November, 1856, seventeen 
of her gospel tracts were published by the 
Weekly Tract Society, in addition to four- 
teen of hers already in their catalogue ; and 
five more were printed between the latter 
date and her death, which have been pub- 
lished posthumously. This was besides many 
papers in various religious periodicals. 

" But the year of blessing, thus auspici- 
ously begun, had scarcely half passed away 
before there appeared the messenger commis- 
sioned to take dow T n her tabernacle, and con- 
summate her joy, by removing her to the 
presence of her Lord. 

" Hitherto, we had known nothing but 
ease and happiness in the seven years of our 
married life, and it was not unfrequently re- 
marked by us to each other, that the common 



68 "tell jesus. " 

lot, the badge of discipleship, seemed to be 
unknown to us. My beloved wife very fre- 
quently observed to me, and that especially 
during the year or two that preceded her 
mortal disease, < How very happy we are ! 
surely this cannot last.' 

" It was soon to end. It is not for the 
eternal bliss of God's children that their 
nest (Job 29 : 18) should be undisturbed ; 
and, therefore, He pulls it to pieces and says, 
1 Set your affection on things above.' He 
cares for our eternal happiness, and makes 
our temporal joy give place to the eternal. 
1 Even so, Father.' " 

Months elapsed ; we did not meet. I 
seldom heard from her; she was not one to 
write for writing's sake; she was fully occu- 
pied ; yet I knew I was never forgotten, by 
the occasional packet of tracts and papers 
that received a grateful welcome in my sick- 
room, where I lived, God's prisoner. He 



"TELL JESUS." 69 

was teaching me Himself the things of the 
kingdom, for which He had already prepared 
me ; slow learner that I have been ! 

One morning I received a note from Emily, 
telling me of the shadow of that bright cloud 
which was destined to convey her beyond the 
reach of pain. The first tokens of cancer 
were visible to herself, and her apprehensions 
were confirmed by three of the faculty. 

The simplicity and calmness of the detail 
were just what one would have expected from 
the trustful tenor of her life. 

After the consultation with the surgeons, 
the worst was confirmed — which was the best. 
The chariot which was to convey her home 
from her labors to the eternal rest in the 
bosom of the Lord she loved was in motion. 
And all this she told her husband when she 
returned, with her usual quiet smile, and 
with unbroken composure. 

An American mode of treatment, but re- 



70 "TELL JESUS. 55 

cently introduced into England, promised 
(how fallaciously we had yet to learn), if not 
a cure, at least a system in preference to im- 
mediate excision ; as in case of failure in the 
first instance, the cancer would be still in the 
same position for what appeared then the 
severer alternative of extraction. 

At such a season, where could the sorely- 
tried hearts go, but unto Him who has pro- 
mised to be a refuge in the time of trouble ? 
And such they indeed found Him, her unself- 
ish heart being more afflicted in her beloved 
husband's trial than in her own anticipated 
sufferings. 

There are other souls similarly exercised, 
who will be comforted by the grace and 
strength given to this tried pair, to meet 
this sudden storm upon their hitherto pleas- 
ant homeward path. 

" From the first certainty that we had of 
the nature of the disease," says Mr. Gosse, 



"TELL JESUS. " 71 

" we had earnestly and constantly sought 
wisdom from God, as to what measures w T e 
should take. We had been accustomed to 
act, according to the grace given to us, on 
that command, ' Be careful for nothing ; but 
in everything by prayer and supplication, 
with thanksgiving, let your requests be made 
known unto God.' (Phil. 4 : 6.) We believed 
that the amplitude of that phrase, ' in every- 
thing,' left nothing so small or insignificant 
but that we might b rinse it and roll it on 
Him, the gracious burden-bearer ; and we 
had often proved the truth of the accompany- 
ing promise, i The peace of God shall keep 
your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.' 
There was also another promise on which we 
were accustomed to act : ' If any of you lack 
wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to 
all liberally, and upbraideth not; and it 
shall be given him.' (James 1 : 5.) 

" These commands and promises we unit- 



VI "TELL JESUS. 

edly pleaded before our Father, folly trusting 
that He would care for us according to his 
word — a word that cannot lie. We asked, 
in confidence that we should not be denied, 
that peace would keep our hearts and minds, 
and that wisdom would be given us. And 
let it not be thought inconsistent with this 
latter promise, that the result of our acting 
was different from what we desired and ex- 
pected ; not even if it could be shown that 
the treatment resorted to did really (as I be- 
lieve was the case) aggravate my beloved's 
sufferings, and hasten her death. 

u It is true, this is not what we looked for; 
we asked to be guided with infallible wisdom, 
and we thought that the wisdom would be 
shown by leading us to choose the most 
effectual mode of cure. 

'"But God had not promised tills ; He had 
promised to give wisdom, and I must believe 
that He did give it ; that the treatment we 



U TELL JESUS/ 5 73 

selected "was the one which, in this particular 
case, He saw really best for us. He had his 
own end in view, and that was the removal 
of his beloved child to his own presence in 
paradise, and the sirstentation and comfort 
of survivors. And this was an end worthy 
of Himself; so that I dare not say we were 
not wisely directed in taking the steps that 
led to it. 

" The wisdom promised by God is a thing 
for faith to apprehend: having asked un- 
waveringly, with singleness of eye, his guid- 
ance, I must believe I am guided ; I must 
believe that mv judgment, when I ultimately 
choose, is influenced — insensibly, indeed, but 
not less really — by his Spirit. And then 
results cannot affect this fact of Divine guid- 
ance. It is not the part of faith to say, if 
the result turn out according to my wish, - 1 
was surely guided by heavenly wisdom :' but 
if otherwise, fi I was left to myself/ For God 



74 "tell jesus." 

cannot belie Himself, and He has nowhere 
promised to grant his children all that their 
foolish hearts would like, but what He judges 
best for their real welfare. He has promised 
wisdom, but not success. 

$i >K >;< 3< >fc 

" It was agreed on between us, that no 
treatment should be resorted to, unless we 
were both of the same mind concerning it. 
After much prayer, then, we were perfectly 
agreed that the American mode of treatment 
seemed to promise best. According to the 
sources of information open to us, it appeared 
to present comparative freedom from pain in 
the process, and a far greater probability of 
ultimate cure. With the knowledge we after- 
wards attained, we should no doubt have de- 
cided far otherwise; but it was not the Lord's 
will that we should decide differently, and 
therefore He saw fit to withhold from us that 
knowledge. He surely guided us, however. 



"tell jesus." 75 

with infinite wisdom to fulfil his purpose, 
which was infinitely good." 

Many a keenly-tempted heart this reason- 
ing will tend to strengthen, for it rests on 
the faithfulness of Him in whom is no shadow 
of turning. Not that the quiet confidence of 
these united ones, trusting in the simple word 
of God, will of itself give comfort. Each one 
must draw .for himself from that fountain 
whose every draught invigorates and soothes. 

How often have I heard the remorseful 
grief of even Christian mourners over the 
failure of means used for the restoration of 
those of whom they were bereaved. " If we 
had but thought of this remedy, or heard 
of that skilful physician, or been enabled to 
take a journey to the South, or earlier de- 
tected the symptoms of disease, there is no 
doubt our lost one might have been spared 
to us for many years." doubting hearts ! 
This is not of faith, and is therefore sin. If 



76 "TELL JESUS." 

you have sought for guidance, you must be- 
lieve you were guided ; and although the re- 
sult may be the sundering of earth's sweetest 
ties, and the painful process of purifying 
fires, which you have endured, take it as the 
wisest answer to your prayer. His thoughts 
are not our thoughts. His thoughts are the 
best. 

" None liveth to himself, and no man dieth 
to himself." The providence that lays, per- 
haps, the dearest and most promising of a 
family on the bed of languishing, often or- 
dains the only preacher who could effectually 
reach some heart by that home hearth. Be 
sure of this, under no other circumstances 
could you learn the particular lesson it is 
come to teach you. Hasten to seek Him by 
whom it is sent, that you may not miss his 
deep, hidden message of love. Let not sor- 
row come there in teaching or warning in 
vain. Pray Him to sanctify it ; to enlighten 



"tell jesus." 77 

your eyes, if you see it not nor trace his 
finger in the dispensation. Fear not ; it is 
a Father's hand, and for every new and 
changing phase in your sorrowful trial, He 
has a ready ear turned to listen, a ready 
hand to help. Shrink not from unfolding 
to Him the least perplexity that besets your 
path. Every trial, to its minutest part, has 
been ordered and arranged by Him. His 
heart, more tender than that of the fondest 
mother, deems nothing beneath his notice 
that sends his child tearful and often speech- 
less to his feet. Waste not your precious 
hours in seeking for creature help. Go where 
the fountain flows freely, where all love and 
might are waiting for you. Tell Jesus. 

If Thou dost call our loved ones home,' 

Shall we Thy claims deny ? 
But, gracious Lord, now give us more 

Of Thy sweet company. 



78 "tell jesus. 3? 

Oh, softly weep we for the dead 7 

Nor let our grief be loud ! 
So shall we hear his voice of love 

Within the light-lined cloud. 

They vest with Him, and shall our praise 

Be silent while they sing ? 
Nay, cloud, and rain, and biting blast 

Sweet summer fruit shall bring. 

Mourn we as they whose hope hath died, 
"With those His love bestowed ? 

The message and the messenger 
Were sent alike by God. 

Shall we not gird us for the fight, 
And, as we heavenward tread, 

Kemember, in the darkest hours, 
What He, the Lord, hath said? 



"tell jesus." 79 



CHAPTEE V. 

"He must needs go through Samaria."— John 4 : 4, 

j)T was good for the Samaritans that Jesus 
was weary and faint with travel; but 
for that link of the blessing He had not tar- 
ried two days in Samaria, where many knew 
Him as " indeed the Christ, the Saviour of 
the world." Emily must needs go through 
a strange country, to testify of the love and 
faithfulness of Him who had said, " Call unto 
Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee 
great and mighty things which thou knowest 
not!" 

The following May, the beloved sufferer 
was placed under the care of the American 
doctor, for the purpose of undergoing the 
new treatment for the supposed cure of can- 



80 "TELL JESUS." 

cer, which had been suggested by an English 
physician as preferable to extraction. 

And now began a season which was to ripen 
the grain for the garner, and try the faith of 
her life's companion in this tribulation. Emily 
had known little of sickness ; indeed, except- 
ing an occasional headache, she told me she 
had had no experience of it worth mentioning, 
yet her nervous system was so peculiarly sensi- 
tive, that the least discomfort would unfit her 
for her ordinary avocations. This trial, then, 
which she was called on to undergo, in cutting 
her off from her pleasant labor of writing her 
gospel tracts, and from the quiet ministry of 
love around her, was the polishing of another 
facet in the jewel for the Saviour's crown. 

The American doctor spoke with confidence 
of the case as one that promised a happy issue. 
"When I saw her, and marked the vigor of 
her frame, and the bright hope in her face, I 
took hope also. Certain it was, that her afflic- 



"TELL JESUS." 81 

tion was blessed to all around her, and to none 
more than myself, in leading me to mark the 
finger of God, and to acknowledge his love in 
giving us our raiment of heaviness to weave 
into garments of beauty for his glory. 

Emily's attendance on Dr. F involved 

the necessity of a wearisome journey from her 
house in Barnsbury to Pimlico, three times a 
week. On one of these days I accompanied 
her; it was a brilliant morning in June, when 
the earth is in all the first fresh beauty of 
summer. The air was scented with the mign- 
onette and Brompton stocks, which filled some 
of the balconies in the "West End squares. 
The sky had scarcely a city shadow to shroud 
its cloudless blue, and all looked fair without — 
a strang-e contrast to the woful waiting-room 

CD & 

we entered; and sadder still, the exchange of 
the groups of blooming children who had 
passed us on their way to the parks and gar- 
dens, for the band of pale sufferers that soon 



82 "tell jesus." 

crowded the chamber. One who knew not 
God, might have thought that on these poor 
sickly ones the curse of suffering humanity 
had specially fallen : he would not see the 
love in affliction, wooing man to think of 
Him whose long-suffering waited still to bless. 
Among these poor stricken ones, Emily Gosse 
moved as a ministering angel. 

Great was the fatigue she endured in these 
journeys to and fro, but she only dwelt on the 
opportunities they afforded her of telling to 
poor sinners the love of Jesus, or from time 
to time grasping the hand of some fellow-pil- 
grim by the way. 

The omnibus and the waiting-room were 
alike her field of labor. That morning every 
one was very civil to us ; receiving her tracts 
and "Messengers'' with courtesy, and many 
read them. 

" But how do you know what to take with 
you V' I asked, rather puzzled, as she sought 



''•TELL JESUS,*'' 83 

amongst her papers for one and another, and 
as I marked the pause before each was offer- 
ed; — " How do you feel sure you give the 
right one to the right person?" She whis- 
pered the secret in my ear. Reader, shall I 
tell it you? 

"lash Jesus!" 

She then related to me the following inci- 
dents, afterwards recorded in her pocket-book 
in pencil, though I miss there other interest- 
ing encounters of which she told me at the 
same time. 

" Sometimes my fellow-passengers are of 
an encouraging kind, and receive my tracts 
with pleasure ; sometimes, on the contrary, 
their very looks repel one's advances. A com- 
pany of that sort I met lately, and yet things 
turned out better than I anticipated. 

" I took out a paper of Mr. DrummoncV's, 
of Stirling, and after reading it myself awhile, 
I presented it to a doubtful-looking gentleman 



84 "tell jbsus," 

to my right, who looked as if he would have- 
rejected a tract. By degrees, as others came 
in, I offered what I thought most likely to 
please them ; and as I saw some get out their 
spectacles, and others read without such aid, 
I got into conversation with my opposite 
neighbor, a Christian lady, who became quite 
interested in the Stirling enterprise, and 
promised to show the ' British Messenger,' 
&c, to some Christian friends in the country, 
whither she was going. 

" Presently my attention was arrested by 
a poor little old man with an old blue bag, 
who had been reading. He had now taken 
off his horn spectacles, and put them in their 
paper case, and holding up a penny in his 
hand, he made a sign v ith his finger, as though 
he would cut it in half. When the noise of 
the wheels permitted, he made me understand 
that he wanted to know if I could give him a 
halfpenny if he gave me his penny. I shook 



"TELL JESUS." 85 

my head, and signified that I did not want 
his penny ; but this did not quite satisfy him : 
the penny was put for a moment back in his 
pocket, but soon appeared again. 

" The old man had evidently counted the 
cost, and ventured his whole penny. I would 
much rather have given him one ; but I did 
not feel it right to refuse. It Avas like the 
widow's mite ; I felt it would bring a blessing 
with it — a blessing to himself and others. 

"I thought, 'If I buy eight tracts with 
that penny, they may be blessed to eight 
souls ; or even to eight hundred ! Shall I de- 
prive this poor man of that honor ? Besides, 
he will doubtless value the tracts I gave him 
all the more for having contributed to pay for 
sending tracts to others. Further, this little 
action will lead me to pray for Ms soul, which 
I should not otherwise have done.' 

"As these thoughts passed through my 
mind, my opposite neighbor, who had seen 



86 "tell jesus." 

what passed, took out her purse and offered 
me a shilling. Here was the first fruit of my 
old man's penny. I said to her, ' I did not 
give the tracts away with any expectation of 
payment/ She replied, 'I know that; but 
of course there are expenses connected with 
giving them away: put that into your poor- 
box.' 

"She would not have thought of it if the 
old man had not given his penny. Many have 
often received tracts and 'British Messen- 
gers,' and have never thought of helping to 
pay for sending forth more. Many could 
give a penny, if not a shilling ; perhaps many 
will who read this : and the old man may find 
in eternity, that his penny has produced fruit 
a hundred or a thousand-fold.'** 

Emily inquired if I had followed out a fee- 
ble service I had begun; and I replied that 

* "Memorial," p. 15. 



"TELL JESUS." 87 

I found my motive was not pure in it, and so 
I gave it up. 

"Don't do that," she answered; "'defeat 
Satan. Tell Jesus your design is not clearly 
all for his glory, and ask Him to make it so — 
to purify your motive ; but do not give up the 

work. You know M says, that i if the 

Father sees one grain of love to his Son in the 
effort, it is the grain of gold in the sand ; He 
accepts it for Jesus' sake, and the blood is 
sprinkled on the rest.' ' : It was the same 
ever new song, " Tell Jesus." 

That happy morning is still fresh in my 
memory. I had Emily to my heart's content 
all to myself, and we spoke uninterruptedly 
of what was dearest to both of us — of Jesus, 
and his dealings with his people. 

A tedious case preceded our arrival, and 
we had long to wait. A young lady whom she 
expected to meet her there failed in her ap- 
pointment, and this gave us the opportunity 



88 "tell jesus." 

of a prolonged conversation. We both said, 
" It is good to be here." 

When I remarked that it was the only un- 
broken interview that I had ever enjoyed with 
her, she smiled her bright arch smile, and im- 
mediately directed my attention to the young 
friend whom she had expected, and who was 
now entering the room. 

Still, I was so full of thankfulness for this 
happy hour of communion in our beloved 
Lord, that I did not murmur. Other pa- 
tients soon followed, and my interest was ab- 
sorbed in watching Emily's gentle greetings 
to some she had met before, and to others — 
strangers — whose anxious or listless counte- 
nances she was scanning in deep sympathy. 
And again and again she recurred to the love 
of the Lord, in opening out to her these op- 
portunities of serving Him, and that among 
souls she could not otherwise have reached. 

" To each," writes Mr. Gosse, " she had 



89 

a word of grace and kindness, undeterred by 
the scornful refusal of some, and the stolid 
indifference of others. 

" Almost all "who resorted to that room 
were co-sufferers with herself, or friends or 
relatives of such ; and her compassion was 
largely drawn out to them, impelling her to 
testify of Jesus' love to them, if they knew 
it not, and to seek mutually edifying and 
comforting communion with them, if they 
were already his. Not a few of those whom 
she met were real Christians ; some, whose 
hearts became knit to hers in fervent love, 
passed before her into the presence of their 
Lord, going home only to die ; others, sur- 
viving, still speak in admiring praise of the 
sweet savor of Jesus' name, which was every- 
where diffused by her. Her unselfish love 
led her to count her own sufferings light, if by 
means of them she could glorify her Lord. 

"Nor were her sympathies confined to the 



90 "TELL JESUS." 

spiritual need of her fellow-sufferers. Many 
of the patients were very poor, ill able to 
afford the expense of coming to and fro, of 
lodgings, of attendance, and of the little 
comforts indispensable in sickness. These 
moved her loving pity. Her character was 
eminently practical; she did not let her sym- 
pathy evaporate in sentimental speeches, but 
at once set about seeing what could be done." 
" On one occasion," says a valued friend of 

Emily's, "I accompanied her to Dr. F 's, 

and while waiting she spoke, as was her wont, 
to most of those seated round the room. She 
came at length to a poor man who appeared 
to be in a very suffering state, and asked him 
about his hope for eternity. He replied to 
the effect that i he hoped he should do pretty 
well.' She walked a few paces from him, 
and then returning, solemnly said, c There is 
but one way to be saved ; the blood of Jesus 
Christ, God's Son, cleanseth from all sin.' 



"TELL JESUS." 91 

She added a few more words ; but what af- 
fected and delighted me was, that in her fer- 
vor she no longer addressed that man in par- 
ticular, but there she stood as God's witness, 
and in tones that all in that room might, and 
I believe did, hear (although perhaps herself 
unconscious of it), proclaimed the blessed 
tidings of salvation."* 

"If I wanted to recommend a patent," 
said Emily, observing how little testimony is 
usually given for Jesus, owing to the fear of 
man, "I should not at the first setting out 
force it; but if I were travelling to make my 
master's patent known, be sure that in what- 
soever society I was cast, I should let it be 
seen." 

Certain I am, that when we are on our 
watch-tower, living close to Jesus, we have 
weapons more powerful than worldly wisdom 

* "Memorial," p. 39. 



92 "tell, jesus. 9 ' 

can use. The Holy Spirit will breathe through 
our words, and prepare the way before us. 

The gentle courtesy of the words and ways 
of one living in the light of Jesus' counte- 
nance is as different from the polished sur- 
face of mere worldly politeness as are the 
beams of the setting sun to the rays of a gas 
lamp. 

Only a trifling occasion may be granted us. 
A gnat has a very brief opportunity, but he 
makes the most of it, and insinuates one drop 
of poison with his sting, which leaves discom- 
fort for days, and keeps him long in painful 
remembrance. A needle is a very little thing, 
but how much may be done with it by patient 
industry, — strong garments for daily use, and 
delicate intricate workmanship, which the 
loom can but imitate ! If an instrument be 
kept bright, and lie near the great Work- 
man's hand, be sure it will be used, and if not, 
it is well to show its willingness for service. 



C£ TELL JESUS.'' 93 

Many a weary hour might be wrought into 
blessing, in the waiting-rooms of some of our 
eminent physicians. 

One who has found the shelter of the Rock 
against the storms that dash our earth-nests 
to the ground, must long to whisper of its 
sweet security to others. And where is there 
a sphere in which loving sympathy would 
often be more appreciated? 

The heart must be hardened indeed, before 
it can look unmoved upon the lines of pain 
and disease written on the anxious faces that 
throng these crowded rooms. Those whom 
the Lord may lead thither may find that, if 
they have returned themselves unhealed, they 
yet have been sent there to guide some soul 
to the fount of healing. 

Many opportunities of showing the love of 

Christ to others will appear to those who 

really desire them ; and if we do not see 

them, the Lord can open our eyes to do so. 

7 "* 



94 " TELL JESUS." 

If all else be denied, there is the prayer that 
carries these sick and apparently careless 
souls to that fountain, for whose healing 
waters they may be longing, while waiting 
for some man to help them. 

Sick one whom Jesus loves, think what 
life-giving blessings you bear with you into 
this world's infirmary ! It is only a new fur- 
row of the field to till for Jesus. Your prayer 
of faith may save the sick of worse than na- 
ture's leprosy; and if you are cast there, re- 
member Him. 

You say, " I cannot speak to strangers." 
It is a blessed thing for such poor lost sin- 
ners as the reader and the writer, that the 
Son of God does not thus answer us. He 
came to bind up the broken-hearted, to com- 
fort the mourner, to heal the leper, to give 
sight to the blind, to make the lame walk, 
and the dumb to speak. He calls none 
" strangers" who come to Himi 



V, TELL JESUS." 

It was well for the poor Samaritan adulter- 
ess that Jesus did not raise such objections. 

Himself a stranger, weary with his jour- 
ney. He even asked of one. with whom the 
Jews had no dealings, a cup of cold water at 
the well of Syehar. 

He came in blessing, not only to the lost 
sheep of the house of Israel, but to the Syjro- 
phoenician woman, whose daughter was healed 
through a mother's persevering prayer. 

" Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I 
command you." It will be happy for those 
who say they know Him. and labor for Him. 
not to hear at last from his lips. " I was a 
stranger, and ye took me not in/' 

My evil heart of unbelief at this time was 
often bringing me into darkness and desola- 
tion. Satan loves to weaken the hands for 
service, and close the lips for testimony, by 
summoning before us past transgressions which 



06 "tell jesus.' ; 

have been forever blotted out by the blood 
of Jesus. 

Emily, with her sound views of gospel 
truth, could not understand me here. It was 
better thus, as it eventually led me to confide 
in Him who knoweth our frame. Shattered 
in health, and easily broken in spirit, the 
great Adversary harassed my mind until I 
became bewildered and afraid, and could no 
longer discern through the mist of doubt that 
the covenant was ordered for me " in all 
things, and sure." 

We are promised that sin shall not have 
dominion over us ; nevertheless, " the flesh 
lusteth against the Spirit," therefore the fol- 
lowers of the great Captain must be prepared 
for w r ar. Up to the mercy-seat, ye whom 
Satan harasses with remembered failures ! 
The promise of the Father is written there in 
the blood of the Lamb. It is pleaded by our 
great High Priest; it is revealed to your 



"tell jbsus. 53 97 

sinking heart by the Comforter. ;i Fear not, 
only believe.'"' 

At this time Emily wrote to me, " Do you 
believe that God has forgiven you the sins of 
to-day. as well as the sins of your whole life? 
Then forgive yourself. A child never learns 
to-day's lessons better for fretting over the 
neglected task of yesterday. " So I have 
found it. 

Satan whispers only of the wrath of an 
offended God; the Comforter points to the 
Refuge. The great Adversary recounts our 
many and repeated sins ; the Holy Spirit 
tells of the Lamb slain. Enter into the covert 
provided against the assaults of the "terri- 
ble one," and thus "be strong in the Lord, 
and in the power of His might." 



98 




CHAPTER VI. 

(i JVJiatsoever ye do, do it hea7 % tiJy, as to the Lord, and not 
unto men ; knowing that of the Lord ye shaJI receive 
the reward of the inheritance : for ye serve the Lord 
Christ"— Col. 3 : 23, 24,. 

v jEAR Emily had indeed entered into 
the furnace. The vigor of her con- 
stitution, and the cheerfulness which seldom 
failed her. prevented all but those who watched 
her with the eye of affection from seeing the 
rapid inroads of disease upon her wasting 
frame. 

Many of the applications of the American 
treatment were of the most painful nature, 
and these were continued without intermis- 
sion, and persevered in until the end of 
August. 

At that time, with the full consent of Dr. 



"TELL JESUS. 55 99 

F , the dear sufferer accompanied her 

husband to Tenby, on the coast of South 
Wales, where his professional engagements 
detained him until the following month, and 
this was the last of those happy travelling 
days in that sweet companionship of their 
wedded life, which had never been interrupted 
more than a few days since their union. 

Before Emily left for Tenby, she requested 
me, in her absence, to remember her need of 
a servant, 

I heard of an aged Christian seeking a 
Christian home for her granddaughter. She 
had been carefully trained as a useful ser- 
vant, and I rejoiced in thinking that I had 
an open door for her, as well as in meeting 
the need of Mrs. Gosse. I wrote at once, 
but during some delay in the delivery of the 
letter, the girl was engaged. Emily writes 
thus : 

"It is very strange that the young girl 



100 "TELL JESUS." 

should be engaged just as I inquired about 
her ; but that sort of thing has happened to 
me several times. The Lord knows best 
what servant I should have, and I desire to 
believe He will provide me with one— the 
right one." 

The lars;e share of blessing; she received in 
the conversion of her servants through her 
means, might encourage others to serve the 
Lord in this manner. Naturally it is more 
pleasant to a Christian family to receive a 
Christian servant. But with those who walk 
with God the question will always be, " What 
wouldst Thou have me to do?" and the result, 
though different from what may have been 
anticipated, will always bring peace. Thus 
again, the Christian servant, standing alone 
in a worldly family, if faithful to her heavenly 
Master, and not a mere eye-server, will shine 
as a living testimony for Him, if He has ap- 
pointed her place of service. 



'•TELL JESUS. ;; 101 

How can we eat of the rich provisions of a 
Father's table, without longing for those 
around us to share in the costly blessing 
offered to all? The sempstress comes and 
goes, the tradespeople around partake of our 
custom, and yet, too often, nothing but a si- 
lent testimony is given, although the wise 
man has said, "A word spoken in due season, 
how good is it !" + 

One day when we were alone, Emily spoke 
to me of the inconsistency of wearing valua- 
ble ornaments ; and while she did so, it was 
with some hesitation of manner, as if she 
shrank from paining me. She perceived that 
she had not made the least impression. 

I said frankly, that I did not feel it wrong 
to do so. I did not wear or value them for 
their intrinsic worth, but for the associations 
connected with them. I had worn them for 
years ; I should probably always wear them. 
And then I thought so. 



102 "TELL JESUS." 

She did not urge the point — perhaps she 
felt it was useless ; but she said, in a rone of 
self-reproof, which I have never forgotten, 
"I should have waited for the Lord." It 
reminds me of one who was pressing some 
such point on another Christian, and was met 
by the question, " Who taught you that?" 
The would-be teacher replied, " The Lord/*' 
" Then," rejoined the other, "wait until the 
Lord teaches me." And most wisely Emily 
waited. She never afterwards, b}^ hint or 
suggestion, alluded to the subject, or if she 
did, I was not conscious of it. 

Actions performed in deference to the 
wishes or convictions of others are a vain ob- 
lation. The laying aside of gold, and pearls, 
and costly array, from such a motive, is of 
no more value in the sight of God, than the 
"Lord, Lord," of the foolish virgins. Out- 
ward conduct will manifest the inward life. 
"As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." 



"TELL JESUS." 103 

I found myself one day by the sick-bed of 
a poor woman, where I little thought to re- 
ceive the silent teaching of the Holy Spirit. 
"But the sun is no sooner risen with a burn- 
ing heat, but it withereth the grass." As I 
knelt by her side, a gleam of sunlight, from 
the half-closed casement above us, fell on the 
ring I wore : but this was onlv a tvpe of the 
beam of Love that fell upon my soul ! My 
heart responded to that divine influence. The 
diamond flashed back the reflected ray. The 
sunbeam had its mission from Him who created 
and directed it. 

The loving recollections which clustered 
around the costly gem were lost in the greater 
love of Him who laid down his life for his 
enemies. 

When I left that dreary little room for my 
own chamber, it was to gather in a heap the 
trinkets, valuable to me as records of broken 



104 "TELL JESUS." 

earthly ties, and lay them at the feet of my 
gracious Lord with tears of joy. 

He accepted them. The gold and the silver 
are his, the beasts of the forest, and the cattle 
upon a thousand hills. He may use the hands 
of those who love Him not, when the hearts of 
those who know Him are cold in his service. 
Valueless to Him is the sacrifice of formalism 
without the sweet constraint of love. 

The soul may sometimes say, " Will he have 
me adorn myself with his silver and gold? 
Will it make me fairer in his eyes ? Do I 
seek to please man, or Jesus only?" 

It is the state and position of the heart 
towards God that has to be regarded ; for 
though you give all your goods to feed the 
poor, and give your body to be burned, and 
have not charity, it profiteth nothing (1 Cor. 
13: 3). 

I speak what I do know, when I declare 
that the delight of carrying such Egyptian 



105 

spoils, with all their fond associations, to the 
feet of Jesus, must be tasted to be under- 
stood ; while the love which rejoices in his 
acceptance is sweeter to Him than all the 
rest — more precious than the fine gold ! 

Heed not whether the world may count 
your offering small or great. It is precious 
in the eyes of the Lord of the whole earth. 
As the tender parent smiles on the babe who 
totters to his knee with the gift of its first- 
gathered daisy, so the heavenly Father looks 
down on the feeblest expression of his chil- 
dren's love. 

These are landmarks on which the soul 
looks back, and then erects her Peniels, and 
presses on again, rejoicing that in heaven we 
have an enduring substance. 

Follower of the Crucified, shall we not 
leave the world's baubles and costly array 
for the worldling ? They can have no worth 
in the sight of one who has seen the King in 



106 "TELL JESUS." 

his beauty, and whose future home is with 
the Lord of glory ! 

As the agonizing applications were con- 
tinued, Emily found this visit to the sea-side 
unlike all former ones, when the care of the 
body had so little obtruded on her notice. 
Nevertheless, she still found a service, and 
she has told me how much more she learnt, 
even in sympathy for others, in this new 
path in which the Lord of the harvest bade 
her sow. 

On her return to London, after five months' 
vain endurance of torture to disperse the dis- 
ease, the removal of the tumor was advised 
as the most hopeful course. The long jour- 
neys to and fro had now to be discontinued, 
and a lodging taken for her at Pinilico, near 
to the doctor's residence. Here she passed 
to another sphere of teaching and trial, ac- 
companied by her little son, her companion 
and assiduous nurse. 



"TELL JESUS." 107 

Sleep, which up to the present time had 
not failed, now went from her, and it was 
seldom that she slumbered but for fitful sea- 
sons, and these disturbed by the moan that 
never escaped her patient lips, except when 
wrung from her in the extremity of anguish. 
Unable to find ease in any posture, she wan- 
dered up and down her chamber, resting her 
head from time to time upon the mantelpiece 
or against the wall. 

Oh, truly this was a season to dwell on the 
eternal faithfulness of Him whose word is 
truth. Recollections of past blessings and 
prospects of future joys had little power to 
sustain; it was the eternal "now;" the pres- 
ent pain of almost every moment bearing up 
to the High Priest's censer the patient sigh, 
the glance of trust. The north wind of the 
Spirit was blowing over the beds of spices, 
and the myrrh and the aloes w T ere as precious, 
nay, sweeter, doubtless, to the blessed Hus- 



108 "TELL JESUS." 

bandman in this night season of proving, 
than the " camphire, with spikenard, cala- 
mus, and cinnamon, with all trees of frankin- 
cense," yielded in the sunshine of her life's 
morning. 

No cloud obscured her faith or shook her 
trust; she rested on the Rock, "a sign," — 
a child, believing in the immutable word of 
a loving Father and faithful God! 

In resigning the joy of her spirit, it seemed 
as if that, having ripened, was " laid up" for 
her : the new wine awaited her in her Fa- 
ther's house; she could afford to put by the 
spiced wine now, and drink the myrrh in 
deeper fellowship with Jesus. 

If the intensity of her suffering abated, it 
was all that could be said of the most quiet 
hour ; never was she wholly free again from 
its agony, until she put off her heavy robe of 
earth, for the garment of praise and the gir- 



"TELL JESUS. " 109 

die of gladness, in the light of the land of the 
Lamb. 

Again she had to undergo the agonizing 

application, and she resigned herself to the 
new torture in calm submission to her Fa- 
ther's will ; nor during the protracted season 
of every new experience of suffering did one 
word of murmuring escape her, nor by ex- 
pression or look was intimated a doubt of the 
loving-kindness of her Lord. She delighted 
to dwell on his goodness, and this was often 
manifest to her, because of her quick under- 
standing in the fear of the Lord, when others, 
less instructed in God's school, might have 
failed to trace it. " How merciful it is of 
the Lord, that — " was so frequent a com- 
mencement of her sentences as to be recog- 
nized as quite characteristic by those who 
were intimate with her.* 

* " Memorial," p. 36. 



110 "TELL JESUS." 

Once when I visited her at Pimlico, I took 
with me some grapes, almost as much for 
their rare beauty, as the delight of carrying 
her anything to refresh her fevered appetite. 
When I reached her lodgings, I found her 
heated and excited from an injudicious visi- 
tor, who was indulging in controversial argu- 
ment, to the distress of the dear sufferer. 

And here I would say a word to those who 
visit the sick-room, either from solely benevo- 
lent motives, or otherwise designing spiritual 
benefit to those they visit. Do not forget 
that it is not simply a room shut out from the 
external life from which you come; but also, 
if not of actual suffering, yet often of exhaus- 
tion consequent on pain. Few are fitted to 
minister to the sick, whether it be the body's 
ailment or soul-sickness. Those who have 
lived much in such an atmosphere can tell 
how the shattered frame and exhausted nerves 
tremble beneath the bustling entrance, and 



"TELL JESUS." Ill 

loud voice, and controversial conversation ; 
and how the long-protracted visit, that has 
no particular aim or object, robs the poor 
sufferer of the hour's rest or comfort which 
the visitor has no power to impart. There 
is one way to be blessed, and to be made a 
blessing. Waiting on Jesus, you may carry 
refreshment with you, and receive in return 
some new lesson of love, learned in the sha- 
dow of that cloud which you have never 
under the same circumstances entered; but 
it is a special ministry. " I was sick and 
ye visited Me!" This kept in remembrance 
will leave a blessing on the giver and on the 
receiver. 

The Lord moved her unpropitious visitor 
to depart, and the weary, flushed face of the 
invalid sank back, restored to its peaceful 
aspect as the pressure on her spirit was re- 
moved. 

I enjoyed speaking with her on the Lord's 



112 M rELL JESUS." 

■ in angelic ministry, and scarcely ever 
lid we lo so, but she alluded to m repeated 
her favorite hymn, 

11 Thy niinist'ring spirits lesi 

To watch while Thy sai - re asleep; 
By day and by night they attend, 
i heirs of sal . : k ; ; : i 

Bright seraphs, les the throne, 

Lr tc the stations as signed, 
And angels iiect arc sent lown 
To guard sleet I mankind. 

•• Their - " kn ; ws, 

Their ferv > still c a the ■ ring, 
An 1 while tJ ay i 

.: : . F my King. 

I. :: :. at the seas >n >i lain'd, 

oin, 
ind love ao 

.;-. '* 

Aa . I her hea . 

her this , she said, "I have 

in thinking mud mlarlyin ig] . 

inistri [els: the an- 



'• TELL JESUS.' 3 113 

gels brought you tc me at the moment I most 
needed you." 

Then I traced with her the chain of circum- 
stances that had not only led me to London. 

but within a street or two of her lodgings. 
which I knew not until I set out to visit her, 
never having been there before. She ex- 
claimed : 

-How good the Lord was to send y 
just when He did! The Lord will reward 

I was silent. She smiled and added, ct 
I fon :: you will it:: be rewarded: I must 

remember your theory, that when ^e have 
pleasure in doing anything for Jesus, we 
have >ui rewai 1 hei :-. and are not to expect 
any other in heaven. I think some of us 
will be surprised when we get home, to find 
what the Lord saw fitted for reward, and 
h ; w much ~\" ; sin.' 5 

A plate of grapes was on the table; this 



114 

was a disappointment to me, and I told her 
so, having thought to bring her what per- 
haps she desired. Great I know was my 
delight to find that the fruit was uneatable, 
and that she had set it aside. Those who 
have few opportunities of thus helping the 
sick ones, will share my pleasure, when I 
opened the basket and showed her the white- 
water grapes nestling in their bed of fresh 
green leaves. And then I had the jot of 
seeing also the Lord's tenderness, in allow- 
ing me to experience how such a trifling 
thing done for Him could be blessed. She 
held the last grape in her attenuated fingers, 
and paused ; her countenance was sweetly 
solemn, and her eyes were closed. It was 
something like the deep peace of her visioned 
face. 

At last she spoke. "I have been asking 
Jesus never to let you want grapes in your 



115 

sickness: and," she added emphatically. 
"He never will" 

And here I witness to the acceptance of 
Emily's loving prayer. Through long and 
wearisome illnesses, and they have been 
many, I have never lacked any good thing, 
and above all, the tender love of my heav- 
enly Father has supplied me wonderfully 
with this refreshing fruit, and gladdened my 
heart by enabling me to serve others from 
his abundant store. Fit living emblem of 
Jesus, full of holy associations, bringing, in 
many a long night-watch, thoughts of the 
past, invigorating to my soul ; none the 
least the recollection of that day's fervent 
prayer. 

An endless record is the loving-kindness 
of my beloved Lord to me. Each cluster of 
grapes since that day has had its history ; 
with every one comes the same sweet mes- 
sage that was whispered to my heart, in the 



116 "'TELL JEStS." 

dawn of that morning. so soon to shine in 
the glory of the Lord on my soul: cl Inas- 
much as you have done it unto her, you have 
done it unto Me ! " 

If any hope of Emily's partial restoration 
had been indulged in. it was now swept 
away. The terrible torture to which her ex- 
hausted frame had been subjected, was of no 
avail, as far as any curative effect was con- 
cerned; the American doctor at last pro- 
nouncing that the disease was in the blood. 
This might have been manifested in the first 
instance, and much of the subsequent agony 
have been spared. But it was the Lord'- 
will that it should not be so. and that this 
furnace of peculiar character should be used 
in the purification of one whom He intended 
to honor. 

Again this sorely- tried pair sought the 
great Counsellor, and found, as all must. 
who seek Him in simplicity and truth, pea- 



117 

u perfect peace, " ht cause they trusted in 

Him. 

Both felt that an entire change of treat- 
ment was necessary, anil that without delay. 

Emily had a strong predilection in favor 
of homoeopathy ; she had always been its 
firm advocate, and her husband's mind in- 
clining toward it, they decided upon a ho- 
)pathic course of treatment. 

When I next saw her. I told her I rejoiced 
in the decision, and that I had greatly long 
for her to try it the whole time she was at 
Pimlico. 

"And why, then, did you neyer urge it ':" 
she inquired. 

.-plained to her how each time I tried 
to do so I was withheld by the dread of in- 
terfering with a treatment they had both 
earnestly sought in prayer, and by a fear of 
in any way unsettling her mi 

This seemed to her confirmatory that the 



118 

mixing of this loving cup was all of Him 
whose name is love, and that not one bitter 
drop in the draught, or one blessing in its 
reception, could have been spared. "For I 
reckon that the sufferings of this present 
time are not worthy to be compared with the 
glory which shall be revealed in us." (Rom. 
8 : 18.) 

She was at once removed from Pimlico, to 
the comfort of her own home at Barnsbury, 
and keenly realized the pleasant change 
from their lodgings, which had been pri- 
marily sought from their being nearer 
Dr. . 

Every day brought fresh occasion of 
thanksgiving for this last step of depend- 
ence on the Lord. 

During this time of pain and weakness, 
she saw through the press three of her last 
tracts, "A Home Welcome," "The Two Hos- 



;i TELL JESUS." 119 

pital Patients/' and "The Dying Postman," 
written during her stay at Pimlico. 

Her service was changing, but it "was the 
same Master who was rapidly moving her 
from one section to another of his school, in 
each of which she learnt something of Him 
she could have learnt under no other dispen- 
sation. She wrote no more. 

Xo exalted joys brightened her way; 
scarcely was it possible for that sorely-suf- 
fering frame to respond to gladness. Neither 
was there one desponding sigh, one murmur 
to ruffle a peace that anchored in the word 
of a covenant God. 

Her nerves were shattered by unceasing 
pain, and the enfeebled body worn by sleep- 
lessness and the semi-recumbent position 
which she was obliged to maintain. The 
powerful remedies, used to combat the dis- 
ease and produce sleep, had acted on the 
susceptible nervous temperament, so that 



120 

the once strong brain and vigorous thought 
could no longer be concentrated upon a sub- 
ject, and many days she could look no 
farther than to the cessation of the present 
paroxysm of pain, to the hope of relief. 
Her trust in the faithfulness of Him. with 
whom she had walked in the cheerful and 
unclouded noonday, was her trust still, in 
the thorny path, with the shadows of night 
lengthening round her, 

A few verses at most from that Booh which 
had been her life's treasure were as much as 
she could bear. A beautiful hymn of Top- 
lady's was her favorite throughout her ill- 
ness ; she was never weary of hearing it : 

" Kind Author and ground of my hope, 
Thee — Thee for my God I avow . 
My clad EVnezer set up, 

And own Thou hast helped me till now. 
I muse on the years that are passed, 

Wherein my defence thou hast proved, 
Nor wilt thou relinquish at last 
Inner so signally lov< 



"TELL JESCS.'' 121 

And this last line she often dwelt on with 
peculiar delight. 

The beloved companion of her labors of 
love, who shared with her in seeking out of 
the Book of the Lord and reading therein, 
had now become the tender nurse of her sick- 
chamber ; and. to add to many blessings, a 
relative left her own family unsolicited, to go 
to them and help at a time when such sisterly 
love was the immediate answer to prayer. 

It may be a mystery to some why these 
things should be, that one so devoted to her 
Master's service should be called to lav down 
the work so dear to her heart. "We cannot 
trace the dealings of the Lord with his peo- 
ple by the light of nature, nor hear his voice 
in the storm that beats around our own path, 
with the natural ear. i; "We walk by faith, 
not by sight." 

Some deeper lesson to be learnt, some 



122 "tell jesus." 

hitherto unknown manifestation of the Com- 
forter, is often reserved for the sanctuary of 
the sick-chamber. 

Suffering is still a service, not only before 
Christ and the unseen World, but also for that 
multitude among whom the sufferer can no 
longer visibly minister. 

There are lone watches in the night, when 
Jesus and the soul have deep communings ; 
and as the hours pass of the day that calls 
others to its labor, the Lord is gathering 
from many a secluded priest the prayer that 
shall fall in blessings on the seed scattered in 
his Name. 

Nor was the sick-room of Emily Gosse 
without its ministry. When unable longer 
to w r rite, the packets of tracts and papers 
that went forth under her direction became 
messages of love ; — more deeply valued from 
the very circumstance of her remembrance 
amid her own severe sufferings. 



"TELL JESUS." 123 

"She possessed," observes her husband, 
" a remarkable power of obtaining the con- 
fidence of strangers. It was quite a common 
occurrence for a travelling companion to open 
up to her the history of a life, and this 
though she was by no means communicative 
of her own private affairs. Often has she 
come home and told me a story full of roman- 
tic passages, which had been confided to her 
by some forlorn woman, whom she had met 
laden with trouble. I believe it was owing 
to her great power of sympathy, which was 
quick to read trouble and sorrow in another's 
countenance, and which then, by some gentle 
word of inquiry or condolence, opened the 
springs of grief, so that it flowed forth. 

" And then she was a willing and attentive 
listener, and a wise and judicious counsellor ; 
and while she did not fail to manifest her in- 
terest in the temporal sorrows thus confided 
to her, she always sought to make the con- 



124 

versation an occasion for introducing higher 
topics. It was one prominent feature of her 
character, that she was always on the watch 
for occasions of speaking a word for Jesus. 

"If her companion was a believer, she 
would try to excite a more potent faith (if 
that was lacking) in the wisdom and love of 
God ; and specially she loved to lead up the 
thoughts to Jesus, as the Great High Priest, 
and the unfailing Advocate ; but if, as was 
commonly the case, such themes elicited no 
response, or only that vague assent which 
tells that the hearer has no interest in them, 
then she would ingeniously, and without 
obtrusiveness, speak of the need of being 
prepared for eternity, of the mode in which 
such a preparation was to be obtained, and 
of the cleansing blood of Christ. If there 
was one Gospel text which more than any 
other she delighted to quote in such conver- 
sation, it was this— 4 The blood of Jesus 



"tell jesus. ?? 125 

Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all 
sin.'" (1 John 1:7.) 

She was very slow to judge others, but 
very swift in judging herself; and that even 
in offices of benevolence. She said, " Unless 
we are doing the Lord's will, even in reliev- 
ing others, we may be interfering with his 
work. It w r as great pain to me to deny my- 
self in regard to E yesterday; but I 

had asked Jesus. It would have been easier 
to the flesh to give, but it was not his will, 
and I withheld the money." 

I confessed to her that I had given, and 
had not asked counsel of the Lord. A year 
after her decease I was allowed to see that I 
had walked by sense and natural benevo- 
lence ; Emily in the power of the faith of the 
new man. 

We were speaking of the busy workers 
and benevolent people who care nothing for 
the Lord Himself. 

9 



126 

I had found it difficult then to realize that 
those who showed kindness to the Lord's 
people, and assisted in work for his purposes, 
could be wholly unapproved of Him. So 
slow was I to recognize the utterly lost state 
of the natural man. I had not seen then, 
that the cup of cold water, given to his least 
disciple, must be given for the sake of Jesus. 
to be accepted. 

Emily's remark was, "They are like 
Noah's carpenters;'' and turning to her hus- 
band, she said, smiling, 

" Henry, you illustrate it." 

Mr. Gosse kindly put down his book, and 
replied readily, 

" Suppose I have a son who is at enmity 
with me, and refuses to be reconciled. He 
will not live with me, he has a house next 
door, he is content to dwell in it, and never 
see my face. I am rearing some caterpillars 
in my garden, to which I attach value; my 



127 

son amuses himself by leaning over the wall 
to feed my caterpillars, which I can do with- 
out him ; shall I owe him gratitude, that he 
amuses himself, while he refuses to be recon- 
ciled to me ?" 

One who had lived in sweet fellowship with 
her eighteen years before I was blessed in 
knowing her, thus writes : 

16 I can truly say. that almost every recol- 
lection of my much beloved friend is fragrant 
with the name of Jesus. She lived to serve 
and glorify Him; it was the one object of 
her life. I do not think I ever met with a 
person so single-eyed, or so consistent as a 
Christian ; it was to me a continual memento 
of what we ought to be. Prayer was her 
strength, she took everything to Jesus ; things 
pleasant or sad, perplexing or comforting, 
alike were imparted into his ever open ear. 
Oh, how often have we knelt together, and 
she has taught me to seek for grace for others 



128 "TELL JESUS." 

as well as for myself, at a throne of grace ! 
She used to say, ' We can never speak against 
any one we have prayed for;' and 'Let us 
ask the Lord,' was her continual invitation. 
Her prayers were most simple and fervent, 
literally those of a loving child, in the 
greatest simplicity telling her Father every- 
thing, and owning his hand in everything. 
She used to say nothing was too minute for 
Him to care for ; and if she intended to go 
one way, and her plans were quite defeated, 
she could rejoice in the conviction that He 
was guiding her path, and this was happi- 
ness. She had great sympathy for those in 
trial, and sought by prayer to help them 
when in no other way she could. Though 
extremely cheerful, her heart responded in- 
stantly to the plea of sorrow, and by personal 
sympathy and prayer she made the trials of 
others her own. 

" She was a most devoted daughter and 



"TELL JESUS." 129 

sister. She told me her mother was a pecu- 
liarly clever woman, and that they were 
chiefly indebted to her for their love of 
knowledge. She taught them the classics, 
and Emily herself was quite a scholar. Latin 
and Greek she was familiar with; I feel uncer- 
tain about Hebrew. She was fond of teach- 
ing, and for some years, I know, she main- 
tained her brother at the university by her 
disinterested appropriation of her income 
to this object. They were a most united 
family. 

"Amongst the many precious reminiscen- 
ces of our friendship, few things strike me 
more forcibly than what I would call her 
' family love.' No matter whether rich or 
poor, learned or unlearned, agreeable or dis- 
agreeable, if she discovered in them the 
lineaments of her blessed Saviour, she was 
irresistibly attracted to them, and sought in 
every way to get good, or to do good. 



130 "TELL JESUS." 

" Her self-denying efforts were unwearied 
in cases of emergency or distress, and no 
amount of disappointment or personal dis- 
comfort would change her purpose. Some- 
times, when surprise has been expressed that 
she was not discouraged, she would say, '"We 
are all clay in the hands of the great Potter. 
He knows how to accomplish his purpose of 
making us vessels of honor; and, as I must 
meet them in the glory and admire them 
then, I had better begin now to try what 
there is to like. 5 Thus would she check a 
detracting spirit in others, by her example 
as well as her words, and lead the thoughts 
of her companions to that coming day, when 
Jesus Christ will own every instance of such 
service as done to Himself. 

"I have often thought the 'inasmuch' 
richly belonged to her. Do you remember 
her happy cheerfulness which made her such 



"TELL JESUS.' 5 131 

a. bright home companion, never gloomy, 
always buoyant for the occasion? 

" Those who knew her best loved her most, 
and were sure of her sympathy for joy or 
sorrow. Yet it is only right to state, lest 
some one who slightly knew her should con- 
sider her character overdrawn, that a certain 
brmquerie of manner, and a want of com- 
pleteness in the minor etiquette of society, 
often did great injustice to the real refine- 
ment of heart and mind which she eminently 
possessed. 

" After her marriage I saw much less of 
her ; but still learnt by her example the value 
of God's Word, its practical power to meet 
every circumstance of life. It was a great 
change to one who had been always at liberty 
to visit and care for others, to fulfil literally 
the apostle's injunction to be a 'keeper at 
home,' to 'submit herself to her husband as 
to the Lord ;' but she owned the duty as im- 



132 "TELL JESUS." 

parted from on high, and sought for the 
needed grace to 'adorn the doctrine.' She 
daily sought to ' reverence her husband/ and 
to merge all her tastes and wishes in his, so 
that she truly became a meet helper to him, 
and they walked together 'as heirs of the 
grace of life.' She greatly dreaded anything 
that should 'hinder their prayers/ for union 
in Jesus was her aim in everything. Her 
sphere of service from this time was changed ; 
but still how useful ! What she did will only 
be known when the secrets of all hearts will 
be revealed ; her tracts prove much. I 
believe few, if any, knew that they (Mr. G. 
and herself) mainly supported a missionary 
to the poor, and she herself told me that 
most of the striking anecdotes related in her 
tracts came under their notice through his 
visitations ; others occurred to herself, and 
all were true. Dear Emily ! I love to think 
of her, and owe much, very much to her ; for 



"tell jesus." 138 

our most intimate intercourse was ever at 
the mercy-seat. The last time she was here 
seems but a few weeks since, so vividly is it 
before ray mental eve. She had been to con- 
sult a physician, and told me, for the first 
time, what were her own fears and his con- 
firmation. Oh, how rapidly from that day 
she faded ! it is difficult not to repeat, when- 
ever I think of her, l Let me not fall into the 
hands of man, but into the hands of God.' 
It was a fiery ordeal she endured during her 
last weeks on earth ; but never can I forget 
her patience, submission, and peace : truly 
she realized the promise of ; perfect peace ' 
to them who wait upon Him. I only saw 
her three or four times ; she seemed cut 
down in the vigor of life ; but doubtless her 
work was done. I can always feel as regards 
her, how truly * blessed are the dead that die 
in the Lord ; they rest from their labors, and 
their works do follow them.' ' 



134 



; TELL JESUS. 



CHAPTER VII. 



"And the (/Tory of the JLord came into the Jioitse by the 
•way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east.'' 
-JSzek. 43 : 4. 




)0D will not lay on you one stroke 

more than you are able to bear," 
said a visitor to a dear child of the Father, 
whom she was glorifying in the fire of sick- 
ness and trial. 

She replied, " I do not feel as if God were 
beating me. He was not angry when He 
allowed the Israelitish youths to be cast into 
the fiery furnace." 

The bonds and imprisonment of Paul were 
no marks of displeasure from the Lord. The 
"chosen vessel" was honored by suffering 
great things for the name of Him he went 



U TELL JESUS." 135 

forth to preach. Paul and Silas were not 
cast into prison for their own sins, but for 
the salvation of the jailor of Philippi. And, 
surely, when Peter was a solitary prisoner, 
and prayer moved the hinge of the iron gate, 
he did not look back to the day when he was 
delivered into the hands of four quaternions 
of soldiers, as if it had been a punishment 
for sin ! 

The good Shepherd's rod, guiding Emily 
into places and positions in which she might 
learn this wilderness experience, which could 
not be learnt in her home of light, was the 
only rod that she recognized. Grod is love ; 
therefore, all that his children expect is love, 
and all they receive from Him is love. 

If a loving father, conscious of the unde- 
veloped powers of his son, gives him what ap- 
pears to the ignorant a cruel task to study, 
it is not so to the son — he has learned enough 
to be sure that such teaching is needful for 



136 "TELL JESUS." 

the future career for which his father designs 
him. For its acquisition, he must necessarily 
forego many a mountain ramble and many a 
twilight wandering ; yet he knows no good 
thing has his father withheld from him, and 
that problem to be solved, and this language 
to be learned in a strange land, are among 
the all things that work together for his good. 

To have sunk under painless disease, in an 
atmosphere of praise and joy, would have had 
little teaching in comparison to this solemn 
season of almost unmitigated suffering. 

At the word of the Lord, Emily had thank- 
fully walked in the sunshiny paths, telling of 
Him, whom to follow was her whole life's glad 
service ; and now when He laid her low — 
how low ! — and put into her hand the cup 
mingled with myrrh, in place of the new 
wine, it was well also. 

In one of the only two interviews I had 
with her after her return home, Emily told 



"TELL JESUS,' 5 137 

me that she hoped, if her life should be pro- 
longed, she should soon be accustomed to her 
sick-room, and her body would not require 
so much of her care. "Then," she added, 
" then my chamber will be a little Bethel !" 

While alluding to her sufferings, she said, 
" I am being pruned and purged ; you will 
not think I am making much of myself when 
I say, that it is that I may bring forth more 
fruit." 

While I was writing this, I received a 
letter from a dear friend ; its last page is full 
of the subject that was filling my heart as I 
recalled the precious dealing of a Father's 
loving hand. I give it without marring it 
by comments of my own, believing that it 
has its message to some waiting soul — now 
willing to wait and suffer, where once it loved 
to labor : 

"We may well be content to be nothing, 
if only God be glorified. I have lately been 



I 

138 "TELL JESUS." 

led to look on m as the purging 

cess which is necessary for the branch ere it 
can bring fortl , There most ; 

fruit to characterize the branch as a livi 
one on the true vine, then the pur. \es. 

and. as a result, more fruit; but if se- 

cret abiding in Him. the close, fcoly fellow- 
ship with Jesus, which produces much fruit : 
and perhaps it is oftenest in affliction that 
we get into this holy fellowship. the 

world is dark aronn I us, tl m we have 
Ms light to walk in: for t y in the 

light and having fellowship are so closely 
connected. And what is the fruit ? Might 
we not be tempted oftentimes tc thint — much 
zeal, activity, and vig r in our Master's ser- 
vice: much talking to others, and preaching, 
teaching, and running about. But what is 
our Master's estimate of fruit ? What in his 
sight is a fruit-bearing branch? i Love. joy. 
peace, long-suffering, gentlenc o )dness. 



'"tell jesus. 5 ' 189 

faith, meekness, temperance.' (Gal. 5: 22, 
23.) Are we not often tempted to call things 
by wrong names, and to take our own stand- 
ard of things and bring it to God's Word, 
rather than to take God's standard and put 
aside our own? Dear, clear sister, we shall 
understand by-and-by all^ all our Father's 
dealings with us, and then we shall indeed 
rejoice." 

Before I left her, Emily asked me to re- 
peat my golden dream once more. 

And this time her eyes filled with tears, 
and my own voice was broken. I knew not, 
though my heart seemed to whisper, that 
when I next saw that pale, emaciated form 
she would be clad in her marriage robe, and, 
all fresh and lovely as in my heavenly vision, 
would stand in the presence of the King in 
his beauty. 

She told me of the sympathy for the poor 
and lonely that her lodgings had taught her, 



140 "TELL JESUS." 

though it always seemed to me that she 
never lacked sympathy for any form of dis- 
tress or suffering. 

"How tenderly," she said, "we should 
think of the sick ; the disorder of the sick- 
room, instead of exciting blame or disgust, 
should call forth our pity ; perhaps, if they 
have any one to care for them, even they 
may have many claims upon them, and this 
I have learnt, w r ith other things, here." 

Consumption was now evident, and a sec- 
ond physician pronounced that either of the 
diseases then present might be the immediate 
cause of death. No hope of recovery was 
was held forth ; but no probability of a 
speedy decease was anticipated. 

Under the homoeopathic treatment there 
was a manifest improvement, and it is sweet 
to see the tender love of the Great Phy- 
sician, leading these waiting ones to such 
means as should now soothe in some meas- 



"TELL JESUS.' 3 141 

ure the shattered nerves, and alleviate the 
worst of her sufferings. 

As far as could be ascertained, the prog- 
ress of the second cancer was but tempor- 
arily arrested; the restlessness caused by 
the medicine and depression disappeared. 
Her cough, however, still visited her in con- 
tinued paroxysms, shaking her worn frame, 
and depriving her of rest. It was seldom 
that she obtained more than half an hour's 
sleep. 

"It had become evident to us both," ob- 
serves Mr. Gosse, "that the severance of 
that happy union, which without a single in- 
terruption of its peace and love had been 
vouchsafed to us for the last eight years, 
was an event not very far from us. We 
looked it in the face ; we well knew no bless- 
ing, no strength, was to be gained by con- 
cealing it from ourselves or from each other, 
and we talked of it freely. To me the pros- 

10 



142 "TELL JESUS." 

pect was dark indeed ; but to her death had 
no terrors. Our dear child she was able to 
leave in the hands of that loving Lord for 
whom she had trained him from earliest in- 
fancy, and to whose tender care she now in 
the confidence of faith committed him : but 
her loving heart deeply tasted the bitterness 
of the cup which she saw I should soon have 
to drink. It was but a day or two before 
her departure that she said to me, with a 
look of unutterable affection, and with pecu- 
liar emphasis, dwelling on each precious 
word, now embalmed in my inmost heart, 'I 
love you — better than on my wedding-day — * 
better than when I was taken ill — better 
than when I came home from Pimlico.' 

"At another time she said, e My beloved 
Henry, gladly would I remain, if such were 
the Lord's will, and be your companion for 
the rest of your pilgrimage !' 

"Nor was this the language of mere 



143 

natural affection, however tender and re- 
fined ; it was evoked by that which in her 
was ever the master principle, an earnest 
longing after the spiritual welfare of those 
whom she loved. She was not ignorant — ■ 
she could not be — how often the Lord had 
used her unworldly faith, her unselfish love, 
her saintly devotion, her wise and godly 
counsel, to the promotion of my best inter- 
ests, checking and counteracting the earthly 
tendencies of my heart, and its proneness 
to love this present world. The faith that 
could leave her child to the care of her cove- 
nant God, could with difficulty leave her 
husband to the same care. 

"Another proof of the faithfulness of God 
in hearing prayer, was the mitigation of ac- 
tual pain as the closing scene drew near. 
Knowing, as we did, in what terrible agony 
this disease often ends, . . . our eyes were 
lifted up to the Lord, that He would spare 



144 "TELL JESUS." 

his child the depth of this affliction." And 
He graciously did, although power was al- 
most lost on one side, and her breathing in- 
creasingly oppressed. 

Amidst the varied sufferings or discomforts 
which tried her wasted frame, "her quiet, 
patient submission to the will of God never 
failed. Throughout her illness," continues 
Mr. Gosse, "I never heard an approach to 
a murmur. 

"A week or two before her departure, the 
course of reading in family worship brought 
us to John xiii. I had made a few remarks 
on the grace of the Lord in purging his own 
from defilement, and on the various modes 
in w r hich He effects it ; and turning to her, 
I said, ' Jesus is washing your feet now, 
love.' 

" This little observation was used to her 
great comfort and refreshment ; and she re- 
peatedly told me afterwards, that thence- 



145 

forth it became one of her favorite words 
until the last — ' Jesus is washing my feet?' 

" The anticipation of being soon in the 
presence of the Lord who had redeemed her 
was delightful to her. To a friend, who 
called a few days before her departure, she 
said, 'This will be the happiest year of my 
life, for I shall see Jesus.' 

"At another time she said, 'I do not de- 
sire to die. I am ready to go if the Lord 
so chooses, but I am willing to live longer 
for your sake.' I have already explained, 
that livinf for my sake was in her mind only 
a phrase for laboring for the Lord. 

"I said, 'Is Jesus precious to you?' She 
knew I meant, consciously, joyously precious. 

"She replied, 'I cannot say that; I have 
not the joys I expected; I rest upon his 
word, his inspiration.' 

"It had been a favorite thought of hers, 
that the saints of God are in their last mo- 



146 "tell jesus." 

merits often favored with sights and sounds 
that belong to the world they are approach- 
ing. 

"In some descriptions of happy death- 
beds such are not unfrequently spoken of. 
I think that they rested a good deal on her 
mind, and that she in some measure hoped 
they would be vouchsafed to herself. But 
may I not affirm that God gave her a better 
thing ? For surely it was a nobler testi- 
mony that she could calmly face death, 'rest- 
ing on his word, his inspiration,' than any 
that she might have given respecting the 
most rapturous sensible manifestations. Like 
the old worthies ' witnessed unto' by the 
Holy Ghost, she 'died in faith.' 

" I have since thought that the Lord in- 
tended her a special honor in thus calling 
her to go out of the world without any sen- 
sible joy, resting on his word alone. 

"If there was one principle that, more 



"TELL JESUS." 147 

than all besides, she had insisted on in her 
Gospel tracts, it was this — That it is the 
part of faith not to seek for evidence from 
feelings, fruits, or anything within, but sim- 
ply to take the naked Word of God. 

"This is strongly brought out by her in 
her tracts — 'John Clarke,' 'John Clarke's 
Wife, 5 'The Old Soldier's Widow,' &c. 

"She had strongly taught, that in the 
matter of salvation, God's simple 'yea' and 
'amen' is a rock stable enough to stand on, 
without any support besides. He chose that 
she should give a dying testimony to the 
same truth; that she should herself be the 
testimony ; that she should herself be con- 
tent to pass into eternity, with no other sup- 
port than the word of 'the unlying God.' " 

Nor was hers a singular case. Many who 
have walked in the full light of God's smile, 
witnessing for Him through a lifetime de- 
voted to his seryico, and in sweet commu- 



148 "tell jesus." 

nion with the heavenly Three in One, have, 
during the last scene, by the absence of all 
joyous feelings, been called to a yet deeper 
experience than they have ever known of 
simple faith and trust in the word and 
promise of that living God, whom, not see- 
ing, they still love. We all can testify, who 
have walked in the light, that to bask on the 
mountain-top in the sensible presence of 
Jesus, may well enable us to breast the 
stormy billows; but to believe that He is 
with us, though we cannot see his face ; to 
know that He is our own Jesus, the same in 
the darkest valley as on the Mount of Trans- 
figuration, is a far higher exercise of faith. 
The day's testimony has proclaimed, "I am 
his, and He is mine," and the setting life 
sinks peacefully to rest on " I know whom 
I have believed." 

"On Saturday, the 7th of February," 
again observes her husband, "it became evi-* 



"TELL JESUS." 149 

dent that the parting scene could not be 
long delayed ; she gave me her dying coun- 
sels, expressed her wishes concerning our 
child, dictated a long catalogue of friends to 
whom the fact of her death was to be com- 
municated, and set her house in order. 

" In solemnly reviewing the history of our 
married life, she spoke of the principles by 
which she had striven to walk, and ended 
with the following words : ' I feel that, be it 
much or little, I have finished my course. I 
have loved the Lord and his work ; and my 
only thought, if He were to give me another 
twelvemonth of life, would be, that I might 
labor a little more for Him.' 

Jfc * * >K Jfc 

" Her last day on earth was now come. It 
was one of brilliant sunshine, — a lovely day 
for midwinter. We had moved her to her 
couch towards the window 7 , and as the bright 
sunlight streamed upon her countenance, we 



150 "TELL JESUS." 

little thought she would see that sun no 
more. As she lay still, she said, ' I shall see 
his bright face, and shall shine in his bright- 
ness, and shall sing his praise in strains never 
uttered below.' 

$Z >fc J}i J}i J{C 

u As night drew on, a change became 
manifest. Soon after eight o'clock she ex- 
perienced a partial paralysis of the tongue, 
so that speech was scarcely intelligible. In 
allusion to this, and dreading that she might 
linger some time without the power of speech, 
she said, c The Lord has hitherto raised me 
up above circumstances ; He has made me to 
ride upon the high places of the earth, and 
now He has brought me down, and now He 
has made me to fear.' 

" ' Fear what, my darling V I asked. 

" 'Paralysis.' 

" Presently she said, l 'Tis a pleasant way 
— more pleasant than when I could not pray 



"TELL JESUS." 151 

for what would make you unhappy.' I sup- 
pose she referred to the circumstance, that 
within the last day or two I had been able 
solemnly to resign her into the hands of Him 
who, for a season, had lent her to me, and 
who now reclaimed his loan. 

" She looked on us hanging over her, and 
said, as if the thought of eternal union were 
delightful to her, ' One family, one song !' 

" At times she fell into momentary slum- 
bers, and though her speech was not alto- 
gether intelligible, yet it was ever of Him 
whose ' best wine for his beloved goeth down 
sweetly, causing the lips of those that are 
asleep to speak.' In one of these murmur- 
ings I made out the words, ' Open the gates 
— open the gates, and let me in.' Ah ! the 
blessed of the Lord had not much longer to 
' stand without.' 

"I spoke to her of the freeness of gospel 



152 "tell jesus/*' 

grace, which she had proclaimed so fully ; she 
replied, — 

"'I see it.' 

" ' See what, love ?' I asked. 

" ' I see the freeness of gospel grace that 
I have set before others, but in extreme 
weakness ;' immediately adding, lest the ex- 
pression should be misunderstood as meaning 
dimness of apprehension of the truth, ' In 
extreme weakness of body,' 

" She murmured, ' I am going home ; I 
must go home.' 

"'Yes,' I replied, 'what a blessing that 
you have a home to go to !' 

" She immediately added, almost inartic- 
ulately, 'And a hearty welcome." This was 
in allusion to one of her last tracts, which in 
MS. had been entitled, 'A Home and a 
Hearty Welcome.' 

" After a while our precious sufferer said, 



"TELL JESUS." 153 

i I shall walk with Him in white ; won't you 
take your lamb and walk with me V 

" This she repeated twice or thrice, as she 
saw I did not readily catch her meaning. I 
believe, however, she alluded to our dear 
child." 

Her eyes, now dim with the shadow of 
death, turned upon her husband who was 
hanging over her, and addressing him by the 
old endearing name, she said, " Dear papa, 
I'm all ready." 

"What has made you ready?" he in- 
quired. 

"'The blood!' Then she added, ' The 
blood of the Lamb.' 

"This precious testimony was the last 
sentence that issued from her lips. It had 
been her joy in life to proclaim the sufficiency 
of that blood, and now she died on it." 

She noticed nothing more, and exactly as 
the hour proclaimed a new day dawning, a 



154 "tell jesus." 

brighter one broke upon her vision. One 
long-drawn sigh, and the happy spirit had 
entered the gate. Then, kneeling round, the 
watchers of that bed of suffering gave thanks, 
amid sobs and tears, for her peaceful admis- 
sion into her happy home. 

Abney Park Cemetery was chosen as the 
place for the deposit of her dust, there to 
rest until the approaching manifestation of 
the sons of God. Then she shall rise to 
meet her Lord, renewed in resurrection power 
and beauty, changed into his likeness whose 
glory was precious to her soul. 

On Friday, the 13th of February, 1857, 
" they took up the body and buried it, and 
went and told Jesus." 

A plain stone, under the shadow of a lofty 
elm, bears the following words: 



"TELL JESUS." 155 

THE DUST OF 

EMILY SOS SB, 

WHO SLEPT IX JESUS 

Feb. 9th, 1857, 

WAITS HERE THE MORNING 

OP THE 

FIRST RESURRECTION. 

How can I close these pages, that may fall 
beneath the eye of the careless, the scoffer, 
the unsaved ? I am humbled to think how 
my own soul has been fed with those words 
which to them must be a strange speech. 

This Friend, this Elder Brother of his 
Father's redeemed family, is the Friend of 
sinners. Sinner, He has died for you. Be- 
hold his hands and his feet. But you are 
blind and cannot see Him; you cannot trace 
Him in His providence, nor adore Him in his 
work. Neither has affliction its blessings, nor 
is death the herald of the King of Peace to 
you. 



156 "tell jesus." 

Oh ! will you not come to Him. that you 

may receive Your sight ? To-day, even to- 

day. the Son of God is passing by. It is the 

Good Physician, Jesus of Nazareth. He saith 
%j * 

unto you, " What wouldest thou that I should 
do unto thee?" Oh ! tell Jesus. 



THE LOVING CUP. 

' TJie cup which my Father hath given Me, shall I not 

drink It?''— John IS : 11. 

Come, drink ye, drink ye all. of it. 

Pale children of a King : 
No poison mingles in the draught, 

So, while ye suffer, sing. 
! Tis Love'.'? own Life hath won it us. 

Christ's lip hath pressed the brim; 
Come, drink ye. drink ye all, of it, 

In fellow-Lip with Him! 

Oh ! shun not thou the Loving I 

Nor tremble at its hue ;, 
There is no bitter in the bowl. 
But Jesus drank it too. 



"tell jesus." 157 

He counts thy tears, and knows thy pain, 

Yea, every woe is weighed ; 
And not a cross He bids thee bear, 

But once on Him was laid. 

# 

Come, drink ye of the Loving Cup ! 

Thou wouldst not pass it by ? 
'Tis kept for every chosen one 

Of God's dear family. 
Nor, unbelieving, turn aside; 

Thy Lord the Cup bestows : 
And oh ! his face, above thee bent, 

With love and pity glows. 

Those hands, once bleeding on the Cross, 

Are now outstretched to bless, 
He draws thee closer to his heart 

For that cup's bitterness : 
He hears thy faintly-sobbing breath, 

He marks each quivering limb ; 
He drank it once for thee alone — 

Child ! drink it now with Him. 

Let earth bring forth its bitter herbs, 

Soon all their power shall cease 
Come tribulation, if it will, 

With Christ's abiding Peace. 

II 



158 "TELL JESUS." 

I take the Cup — the Loving Cup, 
Thrice blessed shall it be ; 

I would not miss one gift, O Lord. 
Thy blood hath bought for me. 



